Why Is Johnny Depp’s Career Bouncing Back In A Way Amber Heard’s Is Not?

After a very public trial this summer, Johnny Depp is being welcomed back to Hollywood, but Amber Heard is nowhere to be seen.

This week, Depp made a cameo appearance at the MTV Video Music Awards. His face was projected inside the helmet of the iconic MTV moon man, and he joked that he needed the work. This confused and upset many viewers.

Unfortunately, Amber Heard continues to be the target of crude memes and abuse. This is another sign that Heard is still struggling, while Depp has been able to get his career back on track almost effortlessly. There is a double standard against the male protagonist that results in him being disadvantaged.

In 2018, Depp sued a British tabloid for libel after it claimed he had assaulted Heard and was a “wife beater.” In 2014, Heard wrote an essay in which she claimed to have been a victim of domestic abuse.

In a US court, Depp won a judgement of defamation against his ex-wife, though he lost  his case against the tabloid in the UK. The info that was exposed during the court battles must have ruined any future career opportunities for him, right? The absence of this fact makes me concerned and depressed about the message it sends to impressionable youngsters and survivors of domestic abuse.

He then traveled to the UK and took part in Jeff Beck’s tour, much to his fans’ delight. He’s currently filming the fourth season of his animated series Puffins Impossible, which is already generating rave reviews, and he’ll soon be seen in period drama La Favorite, in which he plays Louis XV.

In the aftermath, Depp has gotten off “relatively lightly,” while Heard has been transformed into a figure of hatred and yet hasn’t received significant new film roles or award show appearances. The amount of people who believe the latest round of reports is a result of how well Depp and Heard have been received on social media may not be exaggerated. While Depp has been labeled as unjustly harmed, Heard has been called a liar, a fantasist, and has received hundreds of death threats.

While #JusticeForJohnny was being mentioned billions of times on Twitter, the misogyny under the trending hashtag #AmberTurd didn’t miss a beat. Because I’ve worked in entertainment journalism for approximately 20 years, I know how much goodwill Johnny Depp has amassed because of his charity work and other good deeds.

Amber Heard was a significantly less well-known actress than Johnny Depp when they married, with a considerably smaller body of blockbusters to her name. Another power imbalance in their relationship. Given that she is a member of the DC Universe and that their public feud may partly explain their different roles, it’s not like she’s an obscure star.

According to IMDB, over the past fifteen years she’s appeared in an average of two films and TV shows annually. But, as of right now, her only upcoming job that isn’t Aquaman related is already in post-production. This has been exacerbated by the US trial, which was a disaster in many ways, both inside and outside of court.

The provided evidence from both parties showed at best a couple with relationship issues, which does not suggest that the portrayal of Heard on social media is accurate.

Even though Heard was constantly ridiculed, Depp’s career continued to progress. In fact, the demand for Dior Sauvage aftershave jumped 50% during the trial–Depp is the face of the brand. A petition to get Warner Bros to fire her from the Aquaman sequel quickly got over 4.6million signatures.

Ex-wife and former girlfriend’s testimonies of Depp’s good character was helpful in his case.

Johnny Depp’s legal team cleverly pitted women against each other in order to shield their client from investigation and to focus the attention on Heard, which they successfully did. It’s worth noting that even though I can allege Depp is a wife-beater based on the London court’s decision, something he still strongly denies.

In the US case, Depp was compensated $15 million in damages — she won 2 million dollars in a countersuit blaming neither party. Depp’s ex-wife is still struggling to cope aftermath the divorce, while he seems to have effortlessly returned to his normal life. By featuring Depp, MTV tastelessly reduces the serious themes of domestic violence and misogyny to little more than entertainment, adding to the ugly spectacle that defined his trial.

MTV’s target audience are teens aged 13 to 24. These young and impressionable individuals of the TikTok generation are now being pushed further into the false narrative that Amber Heard is the villain, while Johnny Depp is simply a victim worthy of our forgiveness; when in reality, both parties share blame.