Johnny Depp’s Lawyer Says in New Doc That He Was Too ‘Drunk or High’ to Attack Amber Heard

It’s been months since we received a verdict in Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard, yet we are still somehow being subjected to agonizingly stupid misogyny put forth by his legal team. On Tuesday, the two-part “docuseries” Johnny vs Amber: The US Trial began streaming on Discovery+, and Depp’s TikTok-popular lawyer Camille Vasquez features prominently in it.

Comments from Vasquez in the documentary make clear that she wasn’t above saying or doing anything, including falsely claiming abuse can’t happen when someone is “drunk or high.” (We already knew from recently unsealed court documents that Depp’s team originally planned to use nude photos of Heard against her at the trial, among other seriously shady tactics.)

“That’s one part of the case I’ve never understood,” Vasquez said of Heard’s testimony that Depp was physically violent while under the influence. “He’s either drunk and high and incapable of even standing up, or he’s drunk and high and able to attack her, chase her, land blows? It just doesn’t make sense.”

Of course, the aforementioned unsealed documents show 2014 texts in which Depp and his former assistant appear to apologize for Depp’s behavior while he was drunk—around the same time that Heard alleged he physically assaulted her on a private plane. Depp’s assistant’s text to Heard read: “If someone was truly honest with him about how bad it really was, he would be appalled. I’m sad he does not have a better way to really know the severity of his actions yesterday. Unfortunately for me, I remember them in full, in full detail, everything that happened. He was appalled, when I told him he kicked you, he cried.”

Depp later texted Heard: “Once again, I find myself in a place of shame and regret. Of course I am sorry…I will never do it again…My illness somehow crept up and grabbed me…I feel so bad for letting you down.”

Studies have estimated up to 50% of men struggling with alcoholism display violent behavior. Vasquez’s comments are especially insulting to victims and survivors who have been harmed by loved ones with substance use disorders. On top of that, it’s just a moronic thing to say. If no one can be drunk and violent, then I’m sure bar fights are just a myth!

In May, a jury ruled that Heard had defamed Depp with a 2018 op-ed in which, without naming Depp, she recounted surviving intimate partner violence. Months later, after Depp’s fans paid to unseal of thousands of pages of court documents, evidence confirmed that Depp’s team had manipulated photos and audio, and included notes from the couple’s therapist stating Heard was a victim of “intimate partner violence,” among other damning revelations.

Johnny vs Amber: The US Trial is split into two parts, the first centered around the perspective of Depp’s legal team. Because the trial was televised and widely covered in real time, there’s nothing especially new about the docuseries, beyond never-before-seen footage of Vasquez reaching out to and persuading Depp’s ex, Kate Moss, to testify that he hadn’t abused her. The second episode claims to present Heard’s perspective, but her legal team declined to participate, so instead, it focuses on the media circus that surrounded the trial and subjected Heard and her supporters to a brutal harassment campaign.