Amber Heard says the backlash she received after levelling allegations of domestic violence against former husband, actor Johnny Depp, resulted in her being dropped from many jobs.
In an op-ed for the Washington Post, the 32-year-old actor revealed that she lost out on a number of roles as a result of the “full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out”.
“Friends and advisers told me I would never again work as an actress — that I would be blacklisted. A movie I was attached to recast my role. I had just shot a two-year campaign as the face of a global fashion brand, and the company dropped me. Questions arose as to whether I would be able to keep my role of Mera in the movies ‘Justice League’ and ‘Aquaman’,” she wrote.
“I had the rare vantage point of seeing, in real time, how institutions protect men accused of abuse,” she added. The actor did not mention Depp in the op-ed but made an apparent reference to his stature as grand as the Titanic ship.
“Imagine a powerful man as a ship, like the Titanic. That ship is a huge enterprise. When it strikes an iceberg, there are a lot of people on board desperate to patch up holes — not because they believe in or even care about the ship, but because their own fates depend on the enterprise,” she wrote. Heard said that she had to change her phone number “weekly” because of the death threats she received.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard divorced in 2017 after two years of marriage.
“For months, I rarely left my apartment, and when I did, I was pursued by camera drones and photographers on foot, on motorcycles and in cars. Tabloid outlets that posted pictures of me spun them in a negative light. I felt as though I was on trial in the court of public opinion — and my life and livelihood depended on myriad judgments far beyond my control,” the actor wrote.
She said the #MeToo movement marks a “transformative political moment”.
“#MeToo started a conversation about just how profoundly sexual violence affects women in every area of our lives. And last month, more women were elected to Congress than ever in our history, with a mandate to take women’s issues seriously. Women’s rage and determination to end sexual violence are turning into a political force.”
Depp, 55, has denied the abuse allegations and has said that they were, “salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation, and lies”. The couple’s divorce was finalised in 2017, after two years of marriage.
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)