The only thing that let women down is Amber Heard herself! | Rebecca Jane column

For those who have been hidden under a rock for the last couple of months, many of the world have been captivated by the toxic, traumatic and turbulent court case and relationship that was Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. Two people who frankly should have never been together.

Over the weeks we have heard about faeces in the marital bed, severed fingers, caribbean island rehabilitation, private plane domestics and even Kate Moss was thrown into the mix. A Hollywood tragedy that you’d struggle to write for a Johnny Depp film!

I’ll be the first person to say that I supported Amber Heard during the case Johnny held between himself and the Sun newspaper for defamation. Unlike a lot of American courts, English courts are held behind closed doors. The general public only knew the parts of the trial that the mainstream media decided to report on. In my opinion, given how much Amber and Johnny love to sue people, the media would have been incredibly careful what they reported, which is the reason we didn’t hear much of the case details.

Johnny lost his case against the Sun, packed up his toys and transported them across the globe to America. This time, the public would get to see and hear it all, and my goodness, did we hear!

Early in the case it became very apparent this wasn’t a case of winning or losing for Johnny, it was about telling the public his truth. After six years of life changing consequences, being called an abuser and living in mental turmoil, he just wanted to be heard.

For the most part, the trial was dark and incredibly disturbing but it did have humorous parts. TikTok and Instagram have been full of memes and throwbacks for months. Johnny’s lawyers, specifically Camille and Ben have become celebrities in their own right. Their handling of the case was purely legendary. I had to feel sorry for Amber’s lawyers, they were dealt a terrible case to argue and probably did the best they could with a bad job!

So where did it go wrong for Ms Heard? Her credibility was non-existent. Most of the claims she made were rebuffed with witnesses. She referenced believing Johnny was going to push her down the stairs, by mentioning Kate Moss to insinuate he had done the same to her. Then Kate Moss testifies and clearly declares that it never happened. She alleged Johnny ‘absolutely trashed’ a trailer they were staying in, only the manager of the park became a witness to explain how it wasn’t trashed at all. The list of Amber’s lies through the trial became endless.

Absolutely no witnesses, except for Amber’s sister, could say that Johnny was ever physically abusive. In fact, we only saw the opposite. Amber repeatedly admitted being physically abusive towards him, many people were witness to that and he never hit back.

Then there was her testimony, or rather, in my opinion, the performance of her life. Unfortunately, even in her films, she’s a poor actress, so on the stand it became even worse. The extravagant, huffing, puffing, gritting of teeth, the crying with no tears and the endless talking TO the jury, rather than the person asking her questions became infuriating and frustrating for many.

Over time we have developed the attitude and belief that every woman who claims to be abused should be believed. In one respect, I couldn’t agree more. On the other hand, I highly disagree. False claims and narratives ruin lives. Not just in terms of a career, but mentally, lies destroy people. Six whole years Johnny Depp had to wait for his justice, what if something had happened to him in the meantime and he went to an early grave never vindicating himself!

It’s not just damage to a person that I consider, it’s damage to every abuse victim too. ‘Me too’ is a movement that was vitally necessary at the time, but has now been exploited by opportunists. People jumping on a bandwagon, because they love to be a victim. It’s a horrid and harsh truth to declare, but it’s reality. In my opinion, Amber Heard made herself chief captain of the wagon and derailed the movement by 10 years!

Amber wrote a statement after the judgement was announced. Essentially blaming everyone except herself and taking no responsibility. Manipulating the narrative to declare this judgement has ‘set back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously’. No Amber, the only thing that sets women back is yourself. Women who have been genuinely abused will be scared to come forward, they were scared anyway, but this case has made matters a whole lot worse.

It’s a very clear fact that women experience sexual harassment, mental and physical abuse to extraordinary levels. They don’t come forward for fear of the consequences, shame and embarrassment. One woman sat in an American courtroom and set women back years, because a lot of women will now be afraid that they won’t be believed either.

Chris Rock said ‘we should believe all women, just not Amber Heard’. That’s enough said from me this week.