Amber Heard has fired her public relations team over the negative press she’s received during her ongoing defamation trial against Johnny Depp, according to reports.
The actress is believed to have sacked crisis management specialists Precision Strategies on Thursday (April 28) after being subject to “bad headlines” since the trial began last month.
According to The New York Post, a source said Heard is “frustrated with her story not being told effectively”.
It’s claimed she’s hired Shane Communications as a replacement, days before her legal team will present evidence at the trial later this week.
The new PR team, led by CEO David Shane, has previously worked against Depp before. In 2017, the firm represented the actor’s former business managers The Management Group, who claimed Depp needed to hire a shrink over his “compulsive spending” habits.
Depp is suing his ex-wife Heard for defamation over a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post, where she wrote about being a survivor of domestic violence.
Heard didn’t mention Depp by name in the piece, though Depp’s lawyers argue it falsely implies she was sexually and physically abused by him in their marriage. She has also filed a counterclaim against Depp, arguing he has created a smear campaign against her.
The pair met while filming 2011 film The Rum Diary and married in 2015. Heard filed for divorce from Depp in 2016, accusing him of physical and verbal abuse. Depp has denied all the allegations, stating they’re “not based in any species of truth”.
Depp previously lost a libel lawsuit against The Sun in 2020 over an article from April 2018 which referred to him as a “wife beater”. In the ruling, Judge Mr Justice Nicol said he found the words to be “substantially true”.
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