Amber Heard sues Doug Stanhope after he claimed she is blackmailing Johnny Depp
Heard is suing Stanhope for defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and tortious interference with existing and prospective economic relationships
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Your support makes all the difference.Amber Heard has launched a defamation lawsuit against the comedian Doug Stanhope after he accused her of “blackmailing” her husband Johnny Depp and lying about her claims of domestic abuse.
On May 27, a few days after Heard filed for divorce from Depp ending their 15-month marriage, she appeared in court with a visible bruise on her face to request a temporary restraining order against the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, whom she alleged had been violent towards her. The request was granted and the order ruled that Depp must stay at least 100 yards away from her.
A day later, a column by Stanhope - who is a close friend of Depp’s - appeared in The Wrap under the headline “Johnny Depp Is Being Blackmailed by Amber Heard - Here’s How I Know”. In the article, Stanhope claimed Heard’s domestic violence allegations are “bullsh*t”. He also claimed Heard blackmailed Depp by “threatening to lie about him [Depp] publicly in any and every possible duplicitous way if he didn’t agree to her terms”.
Heard’s lawyers responded to the article claiming the allegations against the 30-year-old were “absolutely and unequivocally false” and demanded that The Wrap retract the article. The lawyer, Peter Sample, said the article was defamatory and “outrageous” and blasted Stanhope’s claim of blackmail as having “no basis in reality and is nothing but the typical celebrity muckraking for profit”.
Now, Heard has launched legal action in the state of Arizona against Stanhope and 20 other defendants who have not been named. The lawsuit is on the grounds of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and tortious interference with existing and prospective economic relationships.
The suit claims the article was part of a “calculated publicity campaign to smear Heard” and claims The Wrap article “falsely accuses plaintiff Amber Heard of ‘blackmail’ and other criminal behaviour towards her husband, Johnny Depp, from whom she is seeking a divorce".
“The allegations about Heard in the article are completely false and defamatory, and have caused and will continue to cause her tremendous harm,” the suit says.
The lawsuit states that she is seeking a trial by jury as well as compensation which she plans to donate to a domestic violence shelter in Arizona “to counter the setback to the progress of women by the Defendants’ actions”.
The article by Stanhope came two days after Heard was granted the temporary restraining order against Depp. In court papers, she alleged Depp he had been violent towards her on several occasions throughout their marriage, the most recent claim being that he’d thrown a phone at her face. She claimed: “During the entirety of our relationship, Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me.”
In the same papers, Depp’s lawyer, Laura Wasser, claimed Heard’s allegations of abuse were made in an attempt “to secure a premature financial resolution” and in response to negative media coverage she’d received following the announcement of their divorce.
Representatives for Stanhope, Heard and Depp did not immediately reply to a request for comment.