Prior to his U.S. defamation case, Depp sued The Sun over an article which called him a “wife beater” in reference to his marriage to Heard, which ended in 2017 after two years. At the end of the four-month trial in November 2020, in which Heard testified for three days about alleged domestic violence, a judge dismissed Depp’s claim against News Group Newspapers.
“Although he has proved the necessary elements of his cause of action in libel,” the judge said in his ruling, “the defendants have shown that what they published in the meaning which I have held the words to bear was substantially true.”
Depp appealed the verdict, which was denied by the U.K. High Court in March 2021.
The contentious legal cases between Depp and Heard, moreover, had no effect on director of the Cannes Film Festival Thierry Frémaux‘s decision include the actor and his film in the lineup.
“If there’s one person in this world who didn’t find the least interest in this very publicized trial, it’s me,” he said at a Cannes press conference May 15, per The Hollywood Reporter. “I don’t know what it’s about. I care about Johnny Depp as an actor.”
Keep scrolling to see more celebrities at the Cannes Film Festival 2023.
