Next to the war in Ukraine and the recent news of the leaked Supreme Court document that is would effectively overturn Roe v Wade, the biggest new story in the world right now seems to be the civil suit Johnny Depp has filed against his ex-wife Amber Heard.

Where to even begin with this? This story is EVERYWHERE, and somehow, even though most of us have very little-or-no accurate information on the subject, virtually everyone seems to have an opinion on the case.

I’ve been very reluctant to even write about this. I don’t want to jump to conclusions with out any of the facts – as so many others have. Regardless of who you believe, there’s instantly a lot of people who disagree with you. There’s always that faction of people who will assume that, as a man, if I were to say that I believe Johnny Depp, some women would automatically accuse me of misogyny.

To the best of my understanding, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard met in 2009 on the set of the movie The Rum Diary. They began seeing each other In 2009. They were married from 2015-2016.

In 2018, Heard wrote an op-Ed piece for the Washington Post, announcing to the world that she was a victim of domestic violence. Although she never mentions him by name, it is widely accepted that her assailant was Johnny Depp.

Depp is suing his ex-wife for $50 million, arguing that the op-Ed piece cost him several lucrative acting gigs – including his part in the Pirates of the Caribbean film franchise.

To paraphrase Robert Evans: there are three sides to this story: his, hers and the truth. AND HERE’S WHERE I GET TO THE GOOD STUFF: Johnny Depp is, by no means, a saint. His “bad boy” reputation follows him back to his days on “21 Jump Street”. Also, I think that anyone who has ever read or heard as much as a headline about him knows about his issues with substance abuse. Not that these are excuses for ANY physical, emotional or psychological abuse he may have inflicted upon his ex-wife, but the read flags were there. And whether he was drunk, high, stone cold sober, Whatever, if he sexually assaulted Heard, then all bets are off.

One of the lessons I learned growing up was that “two wrongs do not make a right “. Having said that, even if Johnny Depp has done everything that Amber heard has accused him of, nothing justifies her behavior – defecating in their bed comes to mind. I had the opportunity to the hear bits of her testimony from the witness stand. She was, on two separate occasions, reciting lines movies verbatim. They’re also the allegations that she was physically abusive toward Depp. Furthermore, there’s the claim that she very nearly amputated one of Depp’s fingers with a vodka bottle. None of these behaviors are indicative of someone who is a victim of domestic abuse.

And the thing to remember is that Johnny Depp is suing Amber heard in the situation. It is not the other way around. Granted, both criminal and civil suits are about establishing motive and character assassination. Both legal teams are attempting to do just that.

I think that these are just two human beings who are absolutely toxic for one another. From day one, this relationship was on borrowed time. They are both train wrecks.

Having said that, I have no doubt that Heard’s op-Ed piece cost depth several lucrative film roles. Disney had no problem cutting ties with Roseanne bar following her racist tweets. The mouse house has made it clear that they want their reputation, and those of the actors who work for them, to be beyond reproach. Disney is the biggest entertainment company on the planet. They can afford to do that, even if the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise brought in billions of dollars for them.

In the meantime, Depp is on the sidelines while Heard is getting ready to appear in Aquaman 2.