On the 1st of June 2022, jurors in the US state of Virginia provided a verdict that found both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard guilty of defaming each other. The former has been ordered to pay $2 million dollars to his ex-wife, while the latter is set to pay $15 million dollars, which was later reduced to $10.4 million dollars to her ex-husband. The seven-week long live telecasted trial can arguably be called one of the most extensive and scandalous celebrity trials.
Memes, Reels, and Tiktok videos have been rampantly thrown in our faces all this time, imploring us to participate, willingly or unwillingly in what is a public spectacle of two people’s personal lives. Polarised opinions are drowning Twitter timelines, Instagram feeds, and Opinion pieces into a pandemonium. The internet has, as usual, picked sides, and is squabbling in order to separate right from wrong, and wrong from right.
It is simply put, a bizarre coverage and exhibition of the rich and famous washing their dirty laundry in public. There was little to no difference between the treatment of how a celebrity reality show like Bigg Boss is reported, and how a devastating and problematic disintegration of someone’s life and relationship should be reported.
If you’ve been on social media recently, then you know that it was nearly impossible to escape the TikTok videos and Instagram reels made to mock Heard’s grief, tears and other gestures, all of which were denounced to be merely poor theatrics, and a blatant testament of how Heard is a manipulative liar. It’s not a revelation that there were more people in support of Depp, and fewer in Heard.
However, beyond the sadistic joy that this trial gave many in consuming trauma and abuse as packaged entertainment, there's also the colossal cultural impact that the trial will have, and has already had on how we perceive domestic abuse through the lens of gender, amidst other things.
It was a worrisome trial, to say in a few words, not simply because it was about abuse and trauma, but also because it was about two powerful and popular people that have a vast sphere of influence. Their actions, gestures and lives can have repercussions on the world in ways that are unimaginable. For many, it’s merely a spectator sport, but for several people around the globe, it is a precedent, and today as I write this, I can say as my heart sinks, that this trial and the reactions it has received, has set a devious precedent for the future that is to follow.
This is not about Heard or Depp, which is precisely why I refrain from weighing on who is guilty and who is innocent. Questions like, whether or not this was a case of mutual abuse, a term that has seen emergence lately, are better left to be answered by experts, because for me, this is about the countless women who’ll find it excruciatingly difficult to speak up for themselves and the abuse they have faced. The Depp-Heard trial, irrespective of its outcome has set a precedent on how a woman accusing a powerful man of abuse, is treated.
In a world that has more often than not, shown mistrust and disbelief towards women, it is now more difficult than ever to come forward, because who is going to believe them?
This trial has warped our already very little understanding of abuse and trauma, and it’s hurting our culture. The future is bleak, for victims that want to come forward speak about their abuse, because this case, despite being about only two people, has catastrophic repercussions on how we perceive domestic abuse. While it allows men who face abuse to be visible and validated, it also causes women who’ve faced abuse, and statistically speaking, a number that is much higher, to feel humiliated and invalidated, because there's a display of how they might be treated, right before their eyes.
Whether this is Heard’s fault, or Depp’s, isn’t a statement that I am willing to make, because from the look of it, this was a toxic relationship with both the parties acting in bad tastes, however, despite having immense access to the details of their relationship through a live trial, it is foolhardy to make a comment because the intricacies of a relationship, and even more importantly of abuse are way too complex and confusing to an outside eye, and is best known to the two people inside it. Therefore, despite knowing it all through televised trials, and testaments, the truth is that we are essentially oblivious to the truth.
The moral of the story is that we must stop commenting, and opine on how innocent or guilty these two actors are, and begin introspecting ourselves, for all that we do, and even more for all that we don’t, which leads to many more Heards and Depps being created. Those behaving as if the trauma Depp has gone through is unbelievable must realise that there are innumerable women who silently and submissively go through this same unbelievable trauma everyday, and they neither have the privilege of fame and money, nor of gender. Others must also realise that abuse faced by anyone, man, woman, others, is a crime of immense barbarity and that justice, a concept that is ever-evolving as it is ever-flawed, is a right that should be provided to everyone unanimously.
The Depp-Heard trial is less about the people in question, and more about how it is a reflection of our warped society. It has set dangerous precedents, and we must move with caution, because the future, and I reiterate myself, looks bleak.
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Takshi Mehta is a freelance journalist and writer. She firmly believes that we are what we stand up for, and thus you'll always find her wielding a pen.
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