I can’t remember the first time I heard the case of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. It was not a 9/11 type of event. At first I thought wow, that’s weird. How did Johnny Depp, who was never violent with any of his exes, got violent with Amber Heard? But then this trial happened, and then just like everyone else, I became convinced that Depp was the survivor.
But I couldn’t bring myself to spend all those times watching the livestreamed court on YouTube, so I was glad when Netflix aired this documentary this month. I watched the three episodes – basically in one sitting – and was murmuring with disbelief almost the whole duration of the doc. Relationship is probably never a straight thing, and the case was a lot of his view/her view, and we would never knew what really happened. But I know from watching this documentary that Amber Heard didn’t deserve the vitriol that she got online.
First, I mean, hello, the girl had to deal with an addict. That’s never a good thing, she lost already in that relationship. A guy who was addicted to drugs and alcohol? And treated her with such a bad treatment and harsh words whenever he got high? That in itself is hell. I didn’t get why those people still chose to celebrate Depp despite knowing the extent of his addiction. Why in the world would people choose to not empathize with a woman going through such a relationship was beyond my comprehension.
But hell, I’ve found myself being unable to be surprised by anything – it’s like nothing surprises me any more at this point. I knew better than to expect things to be a certain ways or ways that I would like it, or ways that I would want it, from people.
Secondly, if what Depp said is true that he was talking about post-nuptial agreement when they got into a bad fight in Australia, well…not only did he an addict but he was also a stingy cheapskate who didn’t want to provide, or compensate in the event of divorce, for a woman who has agreed to spend her life enduring his addiction and bad sides and whatnots.
I found myself fuming with anger when I found out that they have quoted that scene from The Rum Diary, the movie where Depp and Heard met. Depp’s character was saying stuff about how his life was okay, and then she (Heard’s character) happened. Why did she have to happened?
Well hello…it should be the other way around!!! Depp has lived his life. He was a big name actor before all this happened, and he was still a big name actor. Heard was an actress with a future, a woman who was bright and brave enough to chase her dreams, and then he came along and married her off only to give her a constantly high on drugs and drinks company (constantly passed out and nodding off from the drugs and the drinks) and a freaking post-nuptial agreement. The hell would want that??? What kind of woman would be able to stay sane with that kind of life? I am not sure those women who venerated Depp could live even a year in Heard’s shoes when she had to face all that.
She could have done much better than Johnny Depp. With her kind of looks, she should be able to have a man who knows how to love her, give her a sober and loving treatment and companionship, and provided her fully – split wealth during divorce included. If only she saw those red flags from Depp and decided to chose better.
Anyway, I love this documentary because it wasn’t one-sided. It really tries to give you the full picture – the side-by-side story of how the court went. But the most important thing, watching this documentary reminds me of how, as a society, we have still a long, long way to go. Heard’s story was tragic, but this will go down in history as a case study of how women need to tread carefully when they are reporting abuse from rich, powerful men. Especially when those rich powerful men have a lot of other people’s commercial interests riding on his success.
