The bitter divorce between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard looks set to get even more heated, as the 30-year-old star strongly denies claims she planned to blackmail her estranged husband with her abuse allegations.
Over the weekend, Johnny’s pal Doug Stanhope wrote a damning column for the website The Wrap, where he said he and Johnny’s other friends had watched Amber “manipulate and f—k with [Johnny] for years”.
“We didn’t say a word. To each other, yes, but never to him,” he writes, adding that everyone closely associated with Johnny felt the same way.
Amber and Johnny are pictured hand-in-hand at the premiere of his film Mortdecai. Photo: Getty
According to Doug, who says he was with the actor on the Saturday that his alleged assault on Amber took place, Johnny revealed that Amber had told him of her plans to file for divorce and was “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,” he continued.
However, Amber’s lawyer responded to the accusations yesterday, calling the claims “absolutely and unequivocally false”.
Find out more about Johnny and Amber’s divorce – story continues below
According to Peter Sample, the lawyer, the blackmail story “has no basis in reality and is nothing but the typical celebrity muckraking for profit”.
Amber filed for divorce from Johnny last Monday, citing irreconcilable differences, just days after his mother Betty Sue Palmer passed away. The pair had been married for 15 months and allegedly had no prenup in place.
Even before Amber started divorce proceedings, a source tells People there were signs of trouble between the pair.
“With Amber, there has been nonstop drama. [They] are just not good together. They had lots of problems before they got married, and should have never gotten married,” the source reveals.
The couple were said to have had “nonstop drama” before Amber filed for divorce. Photo: Getty
While the split was shocking enough, the media storm around the couple only intensified later that week, when it was revealed Amber had been granted a restraining order against her estranged husband after alleging he had physically and verbally abused her.
Since then, Johnny’s daughter Lily-Rose has taken to Instagram to defend her father, posting a childhood snapshot of the actor holding her hand as a baby.
“My dad is the sweetest, most loving person I know. He’s been nothing but a wonderful father to my little brother and I, and everyone who knows him would say the same,” she captioned the photo.
Lily-Rose Depp shared this photo of herself with her dad as she defended him against the abuse claims. Photo: Instagram
