Hollywood leading man Johnny Depp disappeared from the red carpets about two years ago, a victim of #MeToo hysteria, based on an op-ed from his ex-wife, Amber Heard, alleging that he was a woman-abuser. According to the Guardian, his career was over.

Just one problem: The allegations now look as though they aren't even true. According to a tape, turns out Depp was the one being abused, not the other way around.

Here's Megan Fox from PJ Media, describing what the story is now:

A leaked audio conversation between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard is blowing up Hollywood. The audio reveals Heard confessing to committing physical violence against Depp. After BuzzFeed published photos of Heard with bruises and accusations of abuse against Depp, his life fell apart. Depp was implicated in the #MeToo movement and branded as a wife-abuser. He was dropped from "Pirates of the Caribbean" in 2018 and many speculate it was because of the allegations.

Depp was pretty easy to accuse, given his chaotic life. He'd gotten into fights. He'd had problems with drugs. So the accusations were taken as #MeToo Gospel and from there, Depp's career went downhill.

Heard even loudly donated half her 2016-2017 $7 million divorce settlement to the American Civil Liberties Union, all in the name of preventing violence against women.

For a year or so, Depp has quietly been trying to recover his good name. Here's the narrative layout as it happened from Wikipedia:

In early 2019, Depp sued Heard for US$50 million for defamation over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018, which "depended on the central premise that Ms. Heard was a domestic abuse victim and that Mr. Depp perpetrated domestic violence against her,"^[155][156] despite it not mentioning Depp or any of the alleged incidences of violence perpetrated by him.^[149] Heard has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit—which Depp filed in Virginia—so that the case could be tried in California, where some of the incidents took place and most of the witnesses reside.^[157][158] As part of the suit, Depp submitted documents claiming that Heard had in fact physically abused him during the marriage rather than the other way around, a claim which Heard denies.^[158]

In early 2020 Depp released audio recordings that implied Heard had admitted to hitting Depp and throwing things at him. Both parties admitted on the recordings to fights that "got physical", and that Heard started some of these fights.^[159]

The tape obtained by the Daily Mail reveals that Heard was the one continuously assaulting Depp, complete with classic rationalizations from a typical abuser as her stated self-justification:

The two debate the degree to which Heard injured Depp. At one point, Heard tells Depp she was hitting him: "Babe, you're not punched ... I don't know what the motion of my actual hand was, but you're fine. I did not hurt you, I did not punch you, I was hitting you."

At another point, Depp can be heard saying, "I do not want to leave you. I do not want a divorce, I do not want you out of my life. I just want peace. If things get physical, we have to separate." 

Heard replied she couldn't promise that she would "be perfect, I can't promise you I won't get physical again."

"God, I (expletive) sometimes get so mad I lose it," she added. "I can (expletive) promise you I can do everything to change." 

Memo to Amber: You don't hit anyone, ever. Forget the punch thing.

It turns out that Depp was the one being abused, not Heard. Heard admitted to incident after incident of abuse with Depp trying to get away from her.

Much more from the hideous encounters and rationalizations of abuse can be heard on the Daily Mail's nonshareable tape, here.

It's a textbook case of the problems with rushes to judgment. Up until now, the left has been selling the "believe women" line, dragging all sorts of unpowerful people into oblivion, and even a presumably untouchable leading movie star as well. Depp's Wikipedia page said that up until his downfall, he had been the third highest grossing movie star of all time. According to this report cited by the Guardian, 40% of domestic violence victims are men and their calls for help are usually ignored by the cops. In Depp's case, he could do nothing about Heard's attacks except to quietly try to exonerate himself, now with the release of this tape.

One hopes that this case, as high profile as it is, might prove to be a watershed for the cause of believing evidence, as writer Megan Fox says, rather than believing women. At a minimum, Depp has been unfairly taken down by one-sided accusations from someone with a self-interest in hiding her own role, which is now being revealed as quite possibly to be that of an abuser. Is there justice for Johnny, as the twitterati are tweeting? One hopes the tide will turn.

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