As Johnny Depp continues to tour Europe with his rock supergroup, the Hollywood Vampires, the drama surrounding the shocking abuse allegations from Amber Heard continues to intensify.
As new details about Heard’s claims emerge, Hollywood seems split over whether or not to believe the actress’ testimony about Depp’s violent drunken rages.
Several celebs have shared their belief that publicly expressing skepticism regarding Heard’s version of events amounts to victim-shaming and contributes to a culture in which abused women are afraid to come forward.
Others believe that some of the sketchier aspects of Heard’s story (such as the fact that she never told police that he smashed his iPhone on her face, as she later told a judge) provide ample reason to be skeptical.
One famous figure who’s not the least bit ambivalent about the situation is the beloved comedian Doug Stanhope.
Over the weekend, The Wrap published a guest column by Stanhope titled “Johnny Depp is Being Blackmailed By Amber Heard – Here’s How I Know.”
Needless to say, the comic doesn’t exactly beat around the bush in his take on Heard and Depp’s domestic drama.
Stanhope says that he and girlfriend Amy “Bingo” Bingham were at Depp’s home on the day that the alleged abuse took place.
He claims that Depp was in a “dour mood,” which they initially chalked up to the death of his mother.
When Depp revealed, however, that Heard’s behavior was the cause of his depression, Stanhope was apparently not surprised:
“Amber was now going to leave him, threatening to lie about him publicly in any and every possible duplicitous way if he didn’t agree to her terms,” Stanhope writes.
“Blackmail is what I would imagine other people might put it, including the manner in which he is now being vilified.
“Bingo and I together, and then separately, told him how much we were aware of this manipulative a–hole, how his closest circle had all agreed on this since the day we met and that we all feared that telling him outright might alienate us all.
“Love makes you do funny things…Other people came in and out during the afternoon, all verifying that we’d been cowardly, saying things only behind his back for so long.
He seemed dumbstruck that nobody had ever come clean about this and he thanked everyone for being honest. He still pronounced his love for Amber but was presciently aware that she was going to pull off some kind of ruse to f— him over.
“He hadn’t slept in days with anxiety. You’d call him a paranoid if you didn’t know better. But he knew better and he was right.”
Stanhope concludes the piece with the surprising claim that he’s certain Depp is not guilty of the abuse alleged by Heard:
“Johnny doesn’t abuse anyone. And he told me that day ahead of time that she’d pull some kind of s— like this. Johnny Depp got used, manipulated, set up and made to look like an a–hole. And he saw it coming and didn’t or couldn’t do anything to stop it.”
Regardless of where one falls on this issue, there’s no denying that the situation is far more complex than it initially seemed.
