
Celeb trial
The blockbuster court case with no winners
A severed finger. A turd in the bed. Alpacas at the courthouse. “If you want to know what mutually assured destruction looks like,” says Robin Abcarian in the Los Angeles Times, “check out the spectacle of Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard.” The two actors, who were married from 2015 to 2017, are embroiled in a bitter court battle in Virginia – Depp, 58, is suing Heard, 36, for $50m over a newspaper article she wrote in which, without mentioning him by name, she claimed she was a victim of domestic abuse. Heard is countersuing for $100m. Testimony so far points to a “doomed”, destructive marriage: Depp claims that Heard once threw a vodka bottle at him, which shattered, with the broken glass severing a chunk of his finger. Heard has accused Depp of multiple assaults, both physical and sexual.