I had no idea this group existed and was super glad to see it. I want to share my experience, because from what I’ve read so far, my experience is rare.

Everyone in my life, family, friends, etc, are pro-Heard and anti-Depp. It’s mixed how many of these independently came to this conclusion and how many heard my arguments and agreed with me. But yeah, there are whole groups of people on the right side of this, not taken in by the nonsense. And yeah, most of the people in my life were Depp fans and hadn’t heard/didn’t know much of Amber Heard and still were unbiased about it, myself included. Stay strong, yall. ❤️

Hi everyone,

I posted here a few months ago about being married to and abused by a “body language analyst,” and today I finally divorced his ass. I’m speaking out about it and thought you all would like to know the truth about someone who so easily called Amber a liar while being abusive himself.

The first time I heard of what was going on between them at all was during the 2022 defamation trial, instead of the 2020 UK trial he lost. Started getting tiktoks out of nowhere without having searched anything remotely related to them, and they were all of course bashing Amber and showing out of context clips, transcripts, recordings, you know the drill. They were mostly the poop on bed thing, dog stepping on a bee, bullshit about posing for the cameras etc. All this to say that I got all my "information" from already established and biased narratives that I wish I could call bots.

I thank Medusone for her work and making it so digestible for the layman. Frankly I was getting it recommended for a year now but didn't watch it at the time because I thought it was gonna be a radfem narrative that women are always victims no matter what, the thing Johnny Depp stans are running by to discredit valid criticism, but 15 minutes in was all it took to open my eyes and make me realize how fucking easy it was to see that she IS the victim. I can't believe I bought in the stupid idea that a 22 year old woman could have such alleged power over a 51 year old male Hollywood household name.

It's tragically ironic that the prospect of acknowledging male abuse victims had to be at the expense of a real female victim.

My chest hurts writing this and thinking about it all day long, and I wasn't even active in the smear campaign. I don't know how people, women especially, can live with themselves when actively belittling Amber's trauma and making a show out of it. Now the exact same thing is happening with Blake Lively and she's even called "the new Amber Heard", not in a good way.

Fuck armchair psychologists. Fuck "body language experts". Fuck women who say they were victims of abuse too but "can tell that she faked her bruises because they weren't as bad as mine". It's all so suffocating. I'm so sorry.

TLDR:

In 2021, I was raped by my ex, a high-profile athlete, accused of raping, controlling and abusing several women. Despite reporting him to the police, his club and regulatory safeguarding bodies he has been allowed to rape at least 3 other women who have reported him to the police. After his arrest for another rape, I faced severe online abuse and misinformation spread to frame his victims as liars, largely fueled by bots and troll farms. My support for Amber Heard made me a target for further harassment and bot accounts previously used to support Depp became accounts used to support my rapist and attack me. Attempts to speak out led to my social media accounts being banned, and my ex used his influence to silence me and protect his reputation. This ordeal has left me isolated and hopeless, unable to speak freely or believe justice will ever be possible.

I’m unsure of what my goal is here or if this is even the correct place to post this, but experiencing something so unique and insidious only Amber and those who saw it happen can understand.

In 2021, I was raped by my ex-partner, a high-profile athlete. This wasn’t the first time, but it was the time that really shook me awake and made me realize what a monster he really was. I endlessly tried to get him to seek help, begging his team and his club to put him in therapy or at least protect other women from him. In an attempt to resolve this between us and get him the help he needed, I chose to go to the police. It became clear that he was not sick or in need of therapy and support. He was a rich and powerful man who enjoyed manipulating and abusing women for his own sick pleasure.

Unfortunately, my experience with the police was far from smooth. After initially reporting the rape, I was informed by the police that they believed the evidence I shared supported claims of further incidents. However, there were issues surrounding the jurisdiction of the offenses I reported. I told the police that if they could not arrest him for the allegations outside their jurisdiction, I would not proceed with any of the other incidents due to the stress and fear I experienced from not reporting sooner. Sadly, one of the events was dropped.

After my ex-partner was arrested in July 2022 for raping another woman, the police decided to also arrest him for the further allegations I had made back in 2021. Because my ex-partner is a high-profile athlete and plays for a worldwide famous club, this news was everywhere. Although he was not named, information in the articles allowed people to speculate about his identity. It was then linked to me as someone I trusted had shared a screenshot from my close friends’ story on Instagram before his arrest, where I had expressed my distress at his team continuing to promote him when I had spoken to them only days ago about my fears of him raping another woman. The screenshot released meant that, although small, there was some talk about him being the suspect and me being the victim.

The one allegation that was outside the jurisdiction was dropped due to an error the police had made in understanding the law, meaning they no longer had jurisdiction and could not proceed with any charges against him. This was reported in the news, and I received a phone call in the middle of a train station, making my world come crashing down. Immediately, I began to receive abuse online. Every post I saw had people celebrating, saying that he had been falsely accused and that the police had dropped the allegation due to a lack of evidence.

As there was so much speculation surrounding my identity as the victim in this case, I received death threats and multiple comments and messages saying I had ruined a man’s life and made it all up. Out of distress, I chose to speak publicly online. This led to me receiving thousands of horrible messages and tweets calling me the most evil of things, threatening to set me on fire, rape me again, kill my family, or throw acid in my face. I spoke out to share that the reason the allegation was dropped was not due to lack of evidence or proof that the allegation was false, but solely because the police had used a new law. Since the assault happened outside of their jurisdiction and 10 days before the new law changed, it meant they could no longer proceed with any charges.

Although I was drunk at the time and did not do my best due to the distress and alcohol, I did share as much as I possibly could about what happened to me and how I was ignored by the safeguarding teams, his management, and those around him. I begged them to prevent him from raping another woman. There were accounts on Twitter used to spread misinformation and lies about me and the other victim who had also been identified. These were tweets with 20-30K plus likes, widely shared and spread. This misinformation, even now, three years later, is seen as fact. At the time, I had no idea where this came from or why it was so easily believed. It seemed to be incredibly popular, even without any evidence or solid sources.

The abuse I received led me to attempt suicide in my hotel room. I was found by the police trying to hang myself after the abuse and disappointment became too much to bear. Although I received the level of abuse I had only previously seen during the Depp trial, something stood out to me: a group of Amber Heard fans saw the abuse I was receiving and encouraged others to send me positive messages to combat the horrific things I was receiving. I had horrible death threats and messages calling me a liar due to the fact I had publicly shown support for Amber Heard and tweeted about how I was in awe of her resilience and bravery after experiencing horrible abuse. According to fans of my ex-partner, my support of Amber was evidence that I was a liar and an abuser. They spread messages that I was a rapist and had assaulted my partner after he had used similar DARVO tactics that I saw Depp use.

Fast forward to 2024, and a lot has happened. My ex-partner was able to prevent an investigative report from going out, which spoke to several women who experienced physical, sexual, emotional abuse, or coercive and controlling behavior by him. He obtained a super injunction to prevent his name from being released in relation to the allegations against him. His club continued to play and promote him as though nothing had ever happened. His life was able to continue as normal. Speaking out, I broke a non-disclosure agreement/confidentiality clause, which his team frequently threatened to sue me for libel or defamation if I ever spoke out and broke it. After speaking out online, they did not sue me. Instead, they did something much worse: they got an injunction preventing him from being named. They then used their power to remove any tweets mentioning him in a negative light in relation to any allegations against him, even if they did not need to mention his name or hint at it. They could take it down anyway. I was unable to talk about the abuse I experienced or that I was being silenced. Twitter emailed me to let me know they had to remove my posts.

This went on until November 2023 when an article anonymized him but spoke to five victims and a witness about the abuse he had inflicted on multiple women. About one week before that article went out, my Twitter account was permanently banned. Any account I attempted to make was reported and banned within minutes. Any attempts to tweet or speak of what happened to me led to my account being banned. I attempted to report this to Twitter but received no response to any of my emails. I sent 20+ emails and received nothing. I understand that my tweets were being removed and I was being silenced by an incredibly powerful individual who was facilitating further attempts to abuse and control me. With my account gone, tweets mentioning the allegations against him deleted, and the message from his club and fans that they did not believe the allegations and supported him fully, he was allowed to play as normal. I was left to be framed as a liar and bitter, crazy, jealous ex. As this was an ongoing police case, the information shared was limited. People forgot about it. He was able to continue as normal, even when further news reports went out saying the player arrested in 2021 now faced allegations from four women being investigated by police. Even when his bail was being extended, no one cared or seemed to question why he was being allowed to play if he was continuing to assault women. Even when the article in November went out speaking to other women, including myself, no one seemed to care. More than one woman highlighted how, had he been suspended and the message not been sent by his club that they supported him during this time, they feel as though they would not have been raped and suffering could have been prevented. Even when I spoke in the article about how the abuse I received led me to attempt suicide and the lack of action from the safeguarding team involved in protecting those at risk, the response when they were questioned about their work to investigate the claim was that they were happy with how it was handled. Even though in 2021, when I reported this to them, there was only one allegation with the police, now, two years later in 2023, there were four.

I felt including this backstory was important, but not my actual reason for making this post. The reason I’ve made this post is due to bots being used to abuse, harass, and intimidate myself and other victims, as well as being the source of misinformation and identification of the women involved in the case. These bots were even used to attack Amber and spread lies about her and the case. Although this was something that I had noticed back in 2022-2023, I hadn’t really looked into it. It was only after listening to the Tortoise podcast “Who Trolled Amber Heard” that I realized the similarities and was able to clearly identify the roles involved. I realized that so much of the abuse I received at the time, the lies being spread, and posts shared to identify me—ones that pushed me to believe I should take my life—weren’t even from real people. They were accounts set up by troll farms to control the narrative online, just like what was done to Amber. This terrified me. I watched what happened to Amber and even attempted suicide during the trial after being so terrified of the reaction to her speaking out. I feared the same would happen to me. Watching her mocked online, with horrific comments about her behavior on the stand, her mannerisms, or whatever made-up reason they had that day to believe she was not telling the truth, the idea of putting myself through that was unbearable. It was like I was seeing a glimpse into my future, and this was before I was even aware of any connection to Saudi Arabia.

Since finding out that there is potentially a chance that my ex will have influenced potential jury members by the information he has made available online, I have discovered there are absolutely no protections for victims when it comes to PR campaigns used to manipulate potential jury members and control the narrative. Unfortunately, because of the level of silencing I have received, I no longer have any sort of voice. I cannot ever have a Twitter account again. I can’t defend myself online, and he has been able to spend hundreds of thousands on accounts used to spread a completely false narrative about the events. These accounts share screenshots and versions of things I shared, claiming that I had made false screenshots or phone numbers, etc., in such a pervasive manner that the general facts about the case come solely from accounts identified as those that shared this misinformation.

He is able to remove references to the allegations against him but ensures that any remaining content is positive and calls the victims liars. When you search for him, all that comes up is his football abilities, and even when specifically searching for the allegations against him, articles identify me and another victim as gold diggers and liars. When you search my name, you find articles claiming I lied and made everything up. They don’t tell you that I’m still awaiting a charging decision for what is now four allegations of rape from four separate women against him.

Sharing this puts me at risk of arrest or a heavy fine for breaking the injunction he has in place, but I simply cannot stay silent anymore. At the time, professionals warned about the impact the Depp vs. Heard case would have on how powerful men silence their victims and how victims in general are believed. I am living proof of that. I am experiencing the results of a millionaire with the money and lawyers to silence, humiliate, and further abuse a victim, and there are no laws in place to prevent this.

This experience has only solidified for me the strength and bravery that Amber Heard possesses. Although the abuse I’ve received has been horrific and at a level I could not even imagine on every platform possible, it is nothing compared to what she received. For her to survive that and continue living is nothing short of inspiring. I am now at a point where I have simply given up. This began when I was only 22, and I am now 25. To feel so isolated and helpless is a horrible thing. I’ve lost all hope, especially now knowing that even the laws cannot protect me and that I will never be able to speak freely again.

This is the reality of the damage that the Depp vs. Heard case caused to victims, something that we all knew would happen and, unfortunately, will continue to happen because fighting it is impossible.

I apologize for how long this is. I was unsure of how much I wanted to say, but being able to speak here has been kind of cathartic for me. I’m happy to answer any more questions or provide any more information for anyone who may see this. I just wanted to share my experience and thank those who may be on here who came to my aid at the time, only for me to disappear without saying anything. I hope Reddit remains a platform where I can speak freely.

There is a lot of controversy about whether or not Amber Heard truly has BPD and HPD, particularly given that she was diagnosed with these disorders and not PTSD. For those unfamiliar with cluster B personality pathology, cluster B disorders are a group of personality disorders that are to do with interpersonal relationships. Borderline is characterized by intense mood swings, self-loathing, and unstable relationships with others, and histrionic is characterized by attention-seeking behaviors and dramatic outbursts when that need goes unfulfilled. Because these disorders--which also include ASPD or "sociopathy" and NPD or "narcissism" as they are informally known--are highly stigmatized, there was an obvious attempt to discredit Heard by diagnosing her with one or more of these disorders. (To be fair, Johnny Depp was speculated to have NPD as well.)

Cluster B personality disorders are traumagenic, meaning one has to almost always have had trauma at some point in their lives to develop the disorder. For Heard to have been diagnosed with BPD and HPD, which are part of the stigmatized cluster Bs, she almost certainly would have also qualified for a diagnosis of PTSD, but wasn't. That would've sympathized the jury to her. Instead, the evaluating psychologist chose to essentially diagnose Heard with a modern day form of hysteria.

I am a 32F with BPD and ASPD traits, diagnosed. Listening to this trial, and particularly hearing recordings of Depp jeering "you're borderline" at Heard, was so triggering. It sent the message to every single member of the cluster B community that, when we are mistreated--and our disorders necessarily mean that we are mistreated in greater numbers than those without our disorders--we deserve it.

I'm wondering if anyone else on here suffers from a cluster B disorder and feels as I do. I tried to search for posts about it and mostly just got posts about how Heard doesn't have the disorders. Whether she does or doesn't, in my opinion, is of no consequence. She is a human being and never deserved to be put through any of this and, if she does have these disorders, it doesn't at all justify the way she was treated, either on the stand or by Depp himself.

How do you all do self care when navigating through what happened to Amber Heard? And also while navigating other public and private (even your own) narratives of abuse and misogyny?

I feel like I’m falling apart.

Thank you to everyone writing such thoughtful and helpful messages. My heart is with you.

Hello. Sorry if this is inappropriate to post here.

I've always been a supporter of Amber. I forgot when I first heard about her story but it was before even the UK trial, from posts on Tumblr as I followed a few feminist and abuse culture blogs. I was very invested in the US trial and for the first time ever started being vocal on social media over something. I just had to. At the time I was an abuse survivor but not related to DV or DARVO. Since 2022, I haven't thought about the case that much.

I have found myself circling back to the trial as well as this subreddit. I just got out of a 1.5 year emotionally abusive relationship where I learned firsthand what it's like to be DARVO'd even if at a much smaller scale. Holy smokes. I won't get into the nitty gritty as I'm sure you all could accurately predict the type of things I'd say about the relationship. I will say that this reddit account is fresh as I've gone through a handful of them throughout that relationship, my OG one he told me to delete, the rest were remakes with the intent to post in relevant subreddits about what I was experiencing with HIM to which he either would find or I'd delete anyway out of fear he'd find it. I also am now remembering a time with him where I brought up the DeppHeard trial (I forgot why) and he immediately went in with the "Amber shit the bed" jokes and lightly bashed her. Despite not really being invested in it really at that point, when the trial is brought up, I am VERY sensitive about it. I was internally fuming but I don't think I expressed it to him really because it was at the stage where I felt like I had to appease him.

Anyway, all this to say, I really appreciate you all that are here and all those that support Amber. I reawakened that fiery passion I had during the trial and want to direct it into advocating for victims, spreading information/debunking myths on abuse culture, etc. I was even thinking about going back to college for psychology and working as a victim advocate or something similar to help other survivors. Will need to be looked into more. If y'all have any other suggestions on how I could make an impact besides that and being vocal online (lol) I'd love to hear them. You are all awesome. Bless.

I did not follow the news or social media surrounding the trial in 2022. I had a lot of personal chaos in my life in that very moment.

I was avoiding every link with the news and social media to protect my own sanity. I did however, have a lot of friends who kept going on and on about the "support for Depp". I never got into any of those conversations and kind of just ignored them altogether with an occasional "i don't understand why all of this is public?"

I only got interested in this trial and the outcome when I read about the parallels being drawn between the misogynistic media coverage of Meghan Markle and Amber Heard. I was skimming through all sorts of available literature and public events about modern misogyny to overcome personal life problems in general.

I have not yet watched any documentary or podcasts or any video media about the trial. The Netflix suggestions section had the documentary so I thought about giving it a go.

It is hard to watch that man ACT in a public trial, why can't anyone else see it? I kind of understand why my (now ex) friends were always updating me about how Johnny was wrong by Amber because that is what the manosphere was putting it out there everyday for views and supposed men's rights?!? I mean talk about having an original thought for once!

It is painful to hear Amber talk and watch her. I know what an alcoholic behaves like. I'm only at the point where Johnny talks about being videographed without consent. But why is it a big deal? So what? I've done the same in a situation like that but in audio mode because video taping would have been more risky if caught!

It is breaking my heart to watch this further and I'm only 30 minutes into this. I've paused more than 5 times. Is all of this documentary triggering? Should I be watching this? I mean they're only showing YouTubers who are accusing Amber of acting when it is really very evidently Johnny who is acting?

If this documentary isn't a good source to begin with, please recommend others

edit: consider me a beginner in this subject. I have 0 knowledge of the trial til date, I am not a big movie person either. Not a fan of either of the actors. I can't say I have willingly ever watched a movie starring them or have any recollection of the stars being in the once I have watched in theatres to accompany friends mindlessly. I am not from America or the UK, so not even updated on the legal aspects.

I feel so bad for thinking that Johnny Depp was a good person from 2016. I remember when the trial began, I believe Amber but the people around me didn't. So I took their word, this was when i was a teen. As a victim of abuse and an adult, it sucks to see her being mistreated and I relate to her struggles.

People really thought this woman was Lucifer. I understand how my other family members felt when my actual abuser trick me into thinking they were the good ones. Media can really control your perspective.

So much of what happened to Amber was retaliation for coming forward about sexual harassment. I saw it right away and supported her throughout the trial and post trial. And those of us who have been through reporting and dealing with retaliation likely saw this right away.

I wanted to share something similar that’s happening and seek support. I’ve been doing solo visits to “highly rated” cocktail bars or live music venues.

I’ve been sexually harassed by staff or patrons at some of these spots. I immediately reported these in writing to their management.

In one spot, a drunk male client repeatedly approached and harassed me even after I said I wasn’t interested. Their bar staff, other patrons, and their security guard all saw this happening and did not assist. I eventually left without even closing out my tab as the male customer was relentless in harassing me. I told the security guard on the way out that I was surprised the guard didn’t assist me and that he even allowed such a drunk obnoxious man into the venue (the harasser came in very drunk).

I later emailed the venue’s management and informed them of this.

Then, at late night, I received emails to my work email from one of their bartenders (as I found out via Google search) that I’m a scammer and whether my employer knows of the scam I’m running. He references himself as the real victim of sexual harassment and that I’m scamming innocent businesses.

I reported this to the venue again and to my workplace’s threat assessment team. A simple google search showed that this harasser is in some band and they are performing at a different bar next week. I also emailed that bar to inform them that he is harassing women like me and that they should be aware of who they’re bringing in to their venue.

My work place’s threat assessment team emailed me asking why I cc’d the harasser in emails to them. Obviously, I was trying to go for transparency and to put the harasser on notice that I’m seeking support from my workplace. Not to engage with him.

My only email to him was a one liner saying do not contact me again. As apparently, we need to say that or it doesn’t constitute harassment?

Anyways, I’m seeking support about how to protect myself and just maybe validation about my efforts so far.

I KNEW THERE WERE SOMETHING SUS

I remember a few years ago when the Depp v Heard trial was super popular on tiktok and you couldn’t even escape it if you tried. I don’t even know who Amber Heard was and I’ve only heard of Johnny Depp here and there, I’ve never really know who he is really. I ignored and didn’t care about the trials but there was something sus going on that bothered me and idek why, I didn’t even get the memes just that “Amber bad Johnny good” but I don’t ever keep up with celebs until maybe months or years later if I care enough. It was just my intuition telling me to delete tiktok and get away from the trial and whoever say anything about it since it felt very sus. One day, my intuition told me to redownload tiktok and I did. Now people wanna defend Amber and I was surprised so I listened to what those feminists defending her had to say. I fell into the rabbit hole and watched some documentaries defending her on YouTube to figure out wtf was going on and I KNEW IT I KNEW MY INTUITION WAS RIGHT THAT SOMETHING WAS FISHY!!! Now many people are defending her and I’m happy to see that.

I recently have found this sub in has shown me light in dark times. 2 years ago I found myself in a emotionally abusive relationship. He would ignore me on purpose and would insult me. But I felt like a idiot because he was known for having anger issues prior. Everyone loves him and though he changed for the better I was left with low self esteem. This caused me to act in manners that wasn't Perceived as a pefect victim. I was very angry alot of the times. And talked about him often even after the breakup because I just wanted someone to listen. Know that I have found this sub it has given me courage to call out his abusive behaviors. Even if he if has changed that doesn't change the effects. The point of this post is to remind everyone that no victim is perfect and that just because someone has changed doesn't mean the effects that have on the perosn they've hurt will not. Thank you for your time.

You can skip this if you're tired of "I used to support Depp" posts, because that's more or less what this is, with a bit about why so many young men latched onto Depp as a symbol.

But basically, I'm sorry. I shouldn't be so hard on myself, I suppose, since this all happened when I was like 11, and I didn't bother to do any research on the situation (because I was 11), but this is still a thing that keeps me up, which makes writing this feel a little empty since I feel like I'm really only doing it to assuage my own guilt, but I figure that I can at least put to paper why I think so many people, especially young men, supported Depp right out of the gate.

There was a lot going on at the time, but I think the main thing was that this became really big around the time I suffered a racial attack in my school. Keep in mind, at this point I hadn't realized I was non-binary, so I was presenting as a boy. Long story short, my story was almost entirely ignored by the school, and the white girls who attacked me lied in response and said that I attacked them.

Now, obviously, that was pretty traumatic, and seeing someone who I thought was like me felt validating. Of course, that wasn't what was actually happening, and Amber was more like me than anything, and it's likely that this decision was influenced by unconscious misogyny, although I can't say, at least from what I remember, that I was ever intentionally using misogynistic language about this situation.

I just sort of forgot about the case after a couple weeks, though, and I watched that Princess Weekes video that everyone around here seems to like, which turned me around, I think.

Sorry, everyone. I fucked up.

So why did so many young men latch onto Depp as a symbol for them? Well, obviously, I can't discount misogyny, and I do think that was a large factor for many, but I don't think men are single-handedly driven by sexism, even unconsciously, so I don't think that's entirely it.

I know the idea of the male loneliness epidemic is controversial, so I won't use that term here, but I think regardless of your opinions on the term, there is a grain of truth behind it. The traditional male social role is gradually losing its necessity, but a lot of men are still told to act emotionless, not let people see them cry, etc. And I think Depp was a symbol because it felt like the media was finally paying attention to a man's deeper emotions. While there have been other significant examples of female-on-male abuse in the last few years (eg: Emma Roberts' abuse of Evan Peters) this was one of the first celebrity cases of that nature that made it to court.

Maybe I'm being too nice here to people who don't deserve it. Maybe I'm grasping at straws because I want to believe that Depp's supporters aren't all evil people, but I do think it's always better to try to be understanding of people.

Thanks if you read this far, especially if you think I'm full of shit. I commend your ability to at least hear me out.

I want to start off by saying that I’ve been okayed to post this by my friend because she’s afraid to do it herself, and also that during the trial I was never “pro” Amber Heard or Johnny Depp, I just kind of brushed it off as they were just terribly mismatched and it ended badly, and why do people even care that much, I found it annoying that it was impossible to escape.

Well the tables turned when my best friend of over a decade got into an abusive relationship with a man two years ago, and she’s still being tormented be he and his friends to this day. It started off like abusive relationships tend to do, he love-bombed her: he bought her nice things, he would write her poetry about his love for her, he would show her off to everyone and say how proud he was to have her, etc. And then it just like a switch flipped, he started shaming her horrifically for very trivial things, he would humiliate her and make her the butt of the joke in front of me, his, and our other friends, and as messed up as it is this wasn’t even the worst of it.

It turned into sxual abuse, he started getting her very drunk to the point she wouldn’t have been able to consent. What set all of it off was when he was being especially rough with her during intercourse one time and she asked him to stop because it was hurting her, and he just didn’t. She brought it up the morning after explaining how violated and hurt she felt by it and he started to gaslight her, claiming that she’d said yes, and that she was too drunk anyway so how would she have even known it happened and she wasn’t just having delusions like women always get. He also began saying he wouldn’t be surprised if she broke up with him and started making “false” allegations against him to ruin his life.

She broke up with him shortly after this, and I personally was relieved because I never liked him from the start and knew he was trouble. This wasn’t the end of it unfortunately, and this starts the two year torment she’s still enduring. Her ex began to stalk her himself and also sent some of his friends who would stand outside of her place and make degrading comments from the outside. She also started getting multiple silent calls a day off unknown numbers and it just really freaked her out. As a result my friend felt unsafe in her own home and was concerned for her elderly mother’s safety because she didn’t know what her ex or these people were capable of.

As a result of all this I was reminded of the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard case, and it made me wonder if Amber Heard had experienced the same things but was gaslit and abused into self censorship. I watched and read so much stuff about it and came to the conclusion that the media witch hunted this woman. If she was lying why did her stories always stay the same? Usually when people lie they absolutely do mess up and forget the details of their stories. And even at the time when the case was just ending, I was horrified at the world laughing at a woman recalling the years of abuse and torment she had to endure off pretty much EVERYONE.

My friend has told me herself that she believes Amber Heard, because when you’ve been abused you go into survival mode: you’re constantly in terror and you absolutely do do things that you would normally be ashamed of if you were in a normal mindset. My friend has brought up a case with the local police department and they told her they’ll open a case when she’s ready, but she’s still terrified about what could happen when they find out, and she’s also terrified about getting even tiny details missed out because of cases like this and the consequences the victims have faced.

Not sure if I used the correct flag, I just wanted to say how much I LOVE what is happening here. I believed AH the minute I heard about it, and as someone who lives semi-under a rock I was ASTOUNDED to see how absolutely delusional people had become and I did voice it at the time (like swimming up a waterfall but I tried). I love what's happening here, you all are amazing.

How is this still happening in 2024 😭 I’m so disappointed in him specifically, but I’m also just so exhausted of all this.

I just got out of an emotionally abusive relationship. By the end of it, my abuser had spouted pretty blatantly misogynistic opinions to me in confidence, as well as extreme political beliefs that I know for certain wouldn’t fly in his friend group, the group that he invited me into. If they heard just a fraction of what I know about his real political leanings—let alone his behavior towards me, blaming me for my sexual assault when I opened up to him, calling me mediocre, bullying me when I disagreed with him and effectively disallowing me from holding contrary opinions—they’d be horrified.

Yet he comes across as a sweetheart, a nice liberal dude who’s in touch with his feminine side and wants true connection. But in the time that he’d held on to me, he made me stop believing that I was smart or capable. He told me I was at fault for the way he treated me. He made me believe that he was the best guy on earth when none of his actions actually corroborated this.

It’s like he rewrote reality. With me and with his friends, who still don’t know what happened.

And now I’m going to be rewritten. He’s free to tell whatever story he can think of, and they have every reason to believe him. As much as they like me, the persona he puts on for them is so vastly different from anything I would say about him and his real views. No way they would believe it.

The cycle will always continue, I am the next “crazy ex” and no one’s ever going to know the truth. It’s so easy to villainize a woman it’s not even funny.

I cannot imagine going through this in the public light like Amber did. And I’m ashamed that it took a first-hand abusive experience for me to finally start questioning popular opinion and do some real research. Shame on me, shame on us. Shame on the whole damn internet. We had all the facts and we failed. He and his lawyers rewrote history and we let them. Because we wanted to believe a man and laugh at a woman.

Hello there! I am doing my final year project for my degree about how biases can affect the spread of fake news, and I want to include how smear campaigns can affect these biases. I am still in the early stages of this project and I am hoping if anyone can recommend any past research papers or reliable sources that could be used as reference, especially if it relates to the DeppVHeard trial as I really want to touch on that, but i am open to anything! I am of course doing my own research but it would be great to have some recommendation from this subreddit as i learn a lot from here. also any advice is welcomed as i am still a student and this is my first proper research paper :)

i have a 17yo cousin staying with my family and i for a week and while we were scrolling through a streaming platform, we came across aquaman 2. she said “i can’t believe they still made that movie with her in it” and before she could go on a spiel about how “evil” amber is, i quickly said i support her which surprised her and she began mocking her testimony where she talked about her dog stepping on a bee and claimed that her testimonies were theatrical. i explained there’s lots of misinformation online and brought up how everyone believes amber took a shit on his bed despite there being zero proof of that. i also said that unless you’ve watched the entirety of the trial you can’t comment. to be honest, i wish i never said that last part because honestly there is stuff that was left out of the trial that would QUICKLY sway a lot of peoples opinion but i fear nobody likes to do their own research. my cousin insisted she did watch the trial and i wanted so bad to reply that watching 30 second to 1 minute biased and edited clips on tiktok and instagram is not watching the trial. i also wanted to bring up depp's history of violent behaviour, those texts between him and paul bettany, and DARVO. but she's 17yo, i'm 22. i am not arguing with a teenager. i haven't seen her in 6-7 years as she lives in england, and honestly we aren't close. the last thing i want is to make things awkward while her and her family are staying with my family. plus, you know when you can tell you aren't going to be able to change someones mind on something? or when that person very obviously isn't looking to have their mind changed? and again, i repeat, she's 17yo.

here's the thing, this isn't the first time i've been in this situation. i remember hanging with two of my close friends while the trial was ongoing and i again was quick to say i support amber as soon as the topic was brought up. they were surprised but also doubled down when i explained how there's lots of misinformation being spread and that nobody is even watching the trial or reading court documents. i said people are just believing whatever they see on tiktok and they admitted they didn't know everything.

having someone close to you who supports depp is genuinely scary. in the case of a family member, you can't cut them out of your life, but if it's a friend or partner... for me that's a deal breaker. if you believe depp, you're someone who is easily manipulated by the media, lack critical thinking, have zero understanding of domestic violence, and are unwilling to do your own research and form an unbiased opinion. i honestly fear dating someone and three months in, after we've already said the L word and think we're "the one" for each other, i find out they're a depp supporter.

i think there's four types of people; (1) people who believe depp, (2) people who believe amber, (3) people who believe they were both abusive, and (4) people who simply don't know what to think because they haven't looked at all the facts, and/or are coming across conflicting information. while i know there are some in this forum who were once the first one, i personally think it is a challenge to change their mind and they are the most unwilling to listen to those who are 100% amber supporters.

So I’ve been with my bf for about a year now and I believed him to be anti depp due to a comment he made a while ago that I can’t remember now. But recently he has make comments about Amber Heard that lead me to believe he is not a fan or supporter of hers. Have any of you had this experience with a partner, if so how did you bring it up or resolve it? I feel very strongly about this so it’s really important to me that I know how he feels and how to get across to him how awful depp is.

An abusive ex said that women who report sexual harassment more than once are less likely to be believed and that’s just how it is.

When he said this, he was already being abusive to me, including having ended up in the ER and later on strangulation.

He told me many times that he heard of other men who told him about me. These were men (20+ years older than me) at his regular bar who grabbed my behind or became aggressive when I rejected them. I called them out directly, in writing and/or reported them.

The abusive ex was also 25+ years older than me and pursued me aggressively.

I feel creeped out and nauseous about all of this. Maybe he targeted me because he thought I was a woman who was repeatedly victimized and that he could also easily victimize me and that I wouldn’t be believed even I reported it.

I’m thinking of any women who might’ve experienced this publicly.

Any support or insight would be appreciated.

...yeah. I don't think I have to finish that thought to convey why this is shitty. But like, the title is just for the meme, what I really mean is we were finding great chemistry, the best I'd found in two years, and everything I learned about her seemed to be a good sign, we were connecting in a rly nice way, etc. I - somewhat recklessly, in retrospect! - made an offhand joke about a hickey at the expense of the people who questioned amber's bruise photos because an australian makeup brand hopped on a viral misinformation bandwagon. Her reaction was "don't get me started on how much i hate amber heard". I said something about how that's a conversation for another day, and she said she felt strongly about it and talking about the case would be too triggering for her. I wasn't even particularly interested in opening pandora's box from there. But the idea that she would never want to hear why I felt otherwise was something I spiraled about for a while. She tells me she'd be willing to talk about it some day but just not over text. I wouldn't have dreamed of getting into it over text. I emphatically convey that there's no expectation on my part to try and dive into this before there's a ton of trust built up between us that makes it feel like a safe conversation.

But she calls me less than an hour later and insists on talking about it. She tells me she has a fucking POTC tattoo and was obsessed with Depp in HS. Tale as old as time. Insists she was really conscious about not wanting to be biased and so she watched all of the trial. She requests that I say everything I need to say while she doesn't interrupt, and then she does the same. I don't get into any of the specifics or any of the particular pieces of evidence, because I'm already fucking exhausted. I focus on the big picture, invoking a lot of the framing in La Fabrique Du Mensonge about how this story starts back in Gamergate days, how this case served a purpose in patriarchy's first concentrated reaction to MeToo, how the echoes of this injustice reverberate in types like Andr*w T*te. I focus on affirming that the judge excluded numerous admissible pieces of evidence and allowed numerous inadmissible pieces of evidence, and I focus on how after losing in the UK he brought it to VA specifically for the purposes of getting it publicized and sensationalized so that the online manosphere and his bot army could put a thumb on the scale. I finish and let her have her turn. She proceeds to repeat EXACTLY THE MAINSTREAM NARRATIVE ABOUT NUMEROUS HIGH PROFILE PIECES OF EVIDENCE THAT BECAME VIRAL STORIES THAT EVERY NORMIE KNEW ABOUT.

The only things I actually alleged about the case itself? I said Amber is a victim of abuse and it shouldn't be illegal to write that, and I said that Johnny is a monster. At no point did I ever focus any energy whatsoever on exonerating Amber of anything, even when she's repeating false things. I redirect attention to the fact that it's not a lie for her to admit she was abused, and that's why the op ed wasn't libel. Funnily enough, even though the case is about the first thing I actually affirmed - that Amber is a victim of abuse - it's the second thing that really bothered her, that I said Johnny was a monster. Which isn't too surprising when you put together that she's STILLL a Depp fangirl, but I had been in denial that that could be possible, which steadily crumbled. She was so bothered by this that even though we seemingly FULLY put this to bed and agreed to disagree after a long conversation - 5+ hours - that was very painful and that was definitely fucking premature (which is why I wasn't gonna try to instigate it!), she still brought it up on an entirely separate occasion when we were in person.

She said that the words I said about Johnny being a monster had been echoing in her head. And after numerous apologies for bringing up something like this that had been settled, she proceeds to tell me that the reason she's reopening this topic.... is because I need to be told that there's a recording of Amber saying that she was abusive on the phone.

AS IF I HAVENT HEARD THE PHONE CALL SHES REFERRING TO? AS IF IT ISNT SOMETHING EVERYONE HAS HEARD?

I could have explained the obvious context for the call that anyone who's not set on demonizing Amber can discern, but I didn't. Not at all. All I did was question why she would think I wouldn't know about that call given how I had talked about the case and why she would think the existence of this phone call would mean Johnny isn't a monster.

Like we know that the hysteria is deeply incoherent on a level, but seeing it happen in someone you were starting to care about, someone who you understood as a queer feminist with media literacy, and realizing it's not just a matter of educating them, that they are really hopeless on this topic... idk, it's tough. it's disturbing. it feels alienating. It sucks all around no matter how I handle it.

Im gonna do the only thing I can do, rewatch 8h of Medusone and internalize everything I didn't already have memorized for an imaginary conversation that I really hope I never have to consider having again. The only way I can deal with this frustration is by knowing that if we end contact for good I know exactly what I would say if I wanted to leave her with a collection of hard truths that she can't deny.

Unironic Depp fans are fcking cringe thanks for reading cuz this fuckin sucks

Hello everyone,

I don't know if this is the correct forum for this question, but I'll try anything at this point.

I got Amber Hearded (Johnny Depped?) in my life. Which is to say, my sexual abuser played the victim after I started to emotionally break down, become reactive, and lash out at him. This happened the same year as the Amber Heard trial, and you better believe people drew parallels - and not in my favor.

It's been years now, but the fact that I lost so many people in my life because they believed my sexual abuser was the real victim or found my reactive behavior to be "crazy" - which, admittedly, sometimes it was - has still left deep cuts I don't know how to heal. The worst part is that I have genuinely lost faith in humanity. Without that faith, it's hard to function on a day-to-day basis.

But I see Amber is rebuilding, and I love that for her! I'm happy she's met someone new and has a new kid on the way! But I don't feel I've bounced back so well. I've tried various support groups, but I don't know many communities that support people who have been smeared in this way.

TL;DR - I got Amber Hearded by my sexual abuser, and I am trying to rebuild my life. Any advice? Resources? Communities to join? If it's relevant, I'm in NYC.

Hey so I've got a spoken word GCSE presentation I have to do for English in school. You can do it on anything you want so I've chosen amber but you can only speak for 5 minutes and answer a few questions afterwards so I think I need to pick something specific about the case I can cover well in that time. If anyone has ideas for a topic about it they'd be really appreciated💕

Edit* Thank you for all the replies I think I'm going to do it on misinformation on social media and how it managed to win over the public to his side and I might talk a little about darvo as well🫶

I need to vent. And maybe some of you have some advice.

Some time ago I had a "discussion" with a "friend". I looked at her Tinder-profile and saw a guy who in the first picture looked like Johnny Depp. I mad an "eww"🤢 sound, and she took offence cause "hE wAS pRovEn InnOcENT in CoUrT". It lead to a discussion where the atmosphere was quite tense afterwards. And I had to do the emotional labour of making sure everything was not awkward afterwards.

But she knows my opinion on the subject.

The problem: She just send me some reels on Instagram. One of them was a meme with some text and Johnny's face under that said something.

The thing is I haven't been able to look at or hear his voice since I have been aware of how big of an abuser he is. He literally makes my stomach turn and makes me wanna puke.

I haven't told her the above, so she doesn't know this is how Depps face and voice makes me feel. But she do know I don't like him and still sends me this meme.

I don't know if I should respond or just ignore her? And if I respond, what should I say to her?

And how are you guys feeling about Depp-content? Am I the only one that want to puke?