Netflix has released a new three-part docuseries, Depp v. Heard, that explores the 2022 defamation trial between ex-spouses Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, as well as the social media frenzy and public opinion that surrounded it.
The series, directed by Emma Cooper for the UK’s Channel 4, alternates between the testimonies of Depp and Heard in the Virginia courtroom, where they gave conflicting accounts of their tumultuous relationship and alleged incidents of domestic abuse.
Depp, 60, sued Heard, 37, for $50 million over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post, in which she suggested she suffered “domestic abuse” at the hands of Depp. Heard countersued for $100 million, claiming Depp had launched a “smear campaign” against her.
The trial, which lasted for weeks in April and June 2022, was livestreamed and attracted millions of viewers, many of whom expressed their support for Depp and disdain for Heard on various online platforms, such as TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and Reddit.
The docuseries examines the role of social media in shaping public perception and influencing media coverage of the case, as well as the implications for the #MeToo movement and the credibility of survivors of sexual abuse.
The series also features interviews with journalists, lawyers, experts and celebrities who followed or commented on the trial, such as Gayle King, Elaine Bredehoft, Camille Vasquez and Hunter S. Thompson.
The docuseries comes after Depp lost a similar defamation suit against the publisher of The Sun in the UK, where a judge ruled that the tabloid’s 2018 article that labeled him a “wife-beater” was “substantially true”.
Depp and Heard met on the set of 2011’s The Rum Diary, based on Thompson’s novel, and married in 2015. They divorced in 2017 after a bitter and public split.
