When Johnny Depp won his $50 million defamation lawsuit against his ex-wife Amber Heard he posted a long celebration caption on his Instagram: ‘False, very serious, and criminal allegations were levied at me via the media, which triggered an endless barrage of hateful content, although no charges were ever brought against me,’ he wrote.
From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome,’ he continued. ‘Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that…I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and the colossal support and kindness from around the world.’
The post garnered over 19 million likes, including A-list double taps from the likes of Bella Hadid, Sophie Turner, Elle Fanning, Orlando Bloom, Zoey Deutch, Joey King and Robert Downey Jr—all of which have now been removed.
Seemingly, the turning tide in Depp’s support has come after his fans lobbied to have 6,000 pages of controversial documents from the trial unsealed. In the court files, it showed that, while Depp’s team suggested Heard’s injuryphotos were edited, Heard’s forensic expert Julian Ackert also suggested ‘anomalies that call into question the authenticity of the documents,’ in Depps’s photos, too. Specifically, sent dates on the meta deta didn’t line up with when Depp had said the photos were taken. But the judge denied Heard’s team’s motion to proceed, Deadline reports.
The unsealed documents also revealed a series of texts between Johnny Depp and Marilyn Manson where Manson texted Depp that he was in an ‘Amber 2.0’ situation, The New York Times report. Depp replied: ‘I been reading A LOT of material on that sociopathic behavior…it is f**king real my brother!! My ex c**t is goddam TEXTBOOK!!!’ But Depp’s attorneys argued that Heard’s lawyers were trying to smear Depp’s reputation by association with Manson because of abuse claims from his ex-fiancé Evan Rachel Wood and the texts were withheld.
Elsewhere in the court documents, Heard’s team claimed Depp’s lawyers had brought ‘irrelevant personal matters’ like nude photos of Amber and references to her career as an exotic dancer into the case. They accused Depp’s team of ‘attempting ot frivolously and maliciously suggest or imply that Ms. Heard was at one time an escort’ which they said was ‘unfounded, incendiary, irrelevant and designed to harass and demean Amber Heard.’
Although Depp acknowledged his historic drug and alcohol abuse during the trial, the unsealed documents revealed that other parts of Depp’s medical history has been kept from trial. His lawyers argued that his health was ‘marginal or no probative value’ when there was evidence that Depp had taken Cialis (usually used to treat erectile dysfunctions), Valtrex (usually used to treat herpes) and Nexium (usually used to reduce stomach acid).
The celebrities who have unliked Depp’s celebration post are yet to comment on their motivation for retracting their likes and seemingly backtracking their support for the actor’s victory. Meanwhile, Depp’s representation did not reply when contacted by Grazia.