Recently, the Amber Heard and Johnny Depp trial has been all over the place- with a chopped off finger, a vaping witness, and so much more. With all these highlighted events and background information, it’s very hard to see the essential information about the trial, and also what we can learn from it.

Who is Johnny Depp? Or rather, who the heck is Amber Heard? Johnny Depp is most famous for his role as Jack Sparrow in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’, Depp has been in over 80 movies and has won over 20 awards throughout his acting career.  Amber Heard is also an actress who is most famous for her role in the 2017 film ‘Justice League’.  Recently, many stories and accusations have been spread about and from both Depp and Heard; he media has helped spread allegations of sexual assault, defamation, and both physical and emotional abuse.

Depp is suing Heard for 50 million dollars for defamation, while Heard is counter suing for 100 million dollars. According to LII (Legal Information Institute) defamation is defined as, “A statement that injures a third party’s reputation. The tort of defamation includes both libel (written statements) and slander (spoken statements).”

In 2018, with the rise of the ‘Me too’ movement, Heard wrote a opinion piece about how women are treated in sexual assault cases. In the article, Heard claims that she was a survivor of domestic abuse. Although Heard didn’t mention Depp by name, due to the timeline she described, it was very obvious that he was talking about him. Not long after, Depp was dropped from the role as ‘Jack Sparrow’.

Throughout the trial, Depp and Heard both accused each other of domestic abuse. With hashtags such as #AmberHeardIsAPsycopath and #AmberHeardIsALiar trending- it seems like a conclusion has been reached among the internet. However, this case shouldn’t just be treated as black and white. It is very unlikely that Heard is lying about everything she has testified on and it’s also unlikely that Depp is lying about everything he testified on. It is important to take both sides very seriously, as the accusations made are very serious and could be very damaging to both parties.

There are some things we do know about the case. Amber Heard has been charged with domestic abuse in the past, however there are also images of bruises Heard has released, the question is whether or not Johnny Depp was the true source of these bruises.

“I know that Amber Heard is accusing Johnny Depp of physical abuse and sexual assault even though there is a lot of evidence to show it could be the other way around… The media has definitely found it easier to support Johnny Depp,” said Olivia Madsen, Liberty senior.

As opposed to being taken seriously, a lot of the allegations in the case have turned into drama. No matter the circumstances and who is accused/being accused, sexual assault allegations should be taken very seriously.