Actress sues Johnny Depp's friend over 'defamatory article'

June 4, 2016 11:22 AM

The Hollywood actress filed the defamation lawsuit on Friday, June 3, 2016, calling Stanhope's article for TheWrap.com, "highly defamatory," following her domestic violence allegations against Depp.

Amber Heard, Doug Stanhope

The Hollywood actress filed the defamation lawsuit on Friday, June 3, 2016, calling Stanhope's article for TheWrap.com, "highly defamatory," following her domestic violence allegations against Depp.

In the court documents reportedly obtained by Us Weekly, states that:

“Defendants [Stanhope and several unnamed persons] orchestrated a plot to write an article, which was published at TheWrap.com, which falsely accuses plaintiff Amber Heard of ‘blackmail’ and other criminal behavior towards her husband, Johnny Depp, from whom she is seeking a divorce.

“Defendants engaged in this scheme to try to divert public attention away from the true facts regarding Depp which caused their marriage to fail, namely, that Depp repeatedly abused Heard throughout their marriage, at times to the point of her fearing for her life.”

The filing also disclosed that Heard has had cause to return to Depp continually over the course of their relationship/marriage which had begun in 2012, in hopes that he would changes his ways.

Heard's attorney, Charles J. Harder, has also disclosed to Us Weekly that his client is seeking the "maximum possible jury award for the highly defamatory article," with plans of donating all the proceedings to a domestic violence shelter, in a bid to “to counter the setback made to women by the defendants' defamatory article and related wrongful acts.”

Stanhope's column which had been published on Sunday, May 29, 2016, described how himself and other friends had been with Depp at his home in Los Angeles, just hours before Heard had made the domestic violence call.

“Bingo and I were at Johnny’s house for most of that Saturday until just before the alleged assault.

“We assumed initially that his dour mood was because of his mother’s death the day before. But he opened up in the most vulnerable of ways that it was not only his mother, but that Amber was now going to leave him, threatening to lie about him publicly in any and every possible duplicitous way if he didn’t agree to her terms. Blackmail is what I would imagine other people might put it, including the manner in which he is now being vilified.”

Heard and Depp were married for 15 months before she filed for divorce on May 26, 2016, exactly three days after the "Alice In Wonderland" actor had lost his mum, Betty Sue Palmer.

ALSO READ: Couple's divorce gets messier

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