According to The Hollywood Reporter, Amber Heard is suing comedian Doug Stanhope and unnamed others for “defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress” following the publication of his guest column at The Wrap titled, “Johnny Depp Is Being Blackmailed by Amber Heard — Here’s How I Know.” In the essay, Stanhope refers to Heard as a “demon” who fabricated abuse charges against her husband Depp, ostensibly to leverage them against the actor in their divorce proceedings. Heard’s camp has denied the claim.
“Stanhope is a close friend of Johnny Depp and, as part of a coordinated effort, wrote a highly defamatory article about Ms. Heard, filled with completely false, highly defamatory and very hurtful statements. Ms. Heard seeks the maximum possible jury award and will donate 100 percent of the proceeds from the lawsuit to Chrysalis, a domestic-violence shelter in Arizona, in an effort to counter the setback made to women by the defendants’ defamatory article and related wrongful acts,” Heard’s attorney Charles Harder said in a statement. Heard filed the complaint Friday in Arizona Superior Court. It alleges Depp subjected her to a “campaign of violence” during which “Depp has hit and kicked Heard on numerous occasions, has thrown objects at her, at one point nearly suffocated her to the point where she feared for her life.” According to the suit, “Heard repeatedly returned to Depp, despite his verbal and physical mistreatment of her, hoping optimistically that the man she married would change his behavior. Each time Heard returned, however, within months, the cycle of substance abuse and violence repeated.”
