We Failed Amber Heard: An Astrological Portrait of Mass Deception and the Failure to Believe Women

With the ash having settled from the Depp v. Heard trial, I want to explore a loaded question: why don’t we believe women? The natal chart of this trial paints an evocative portrait of the grotesque intersection between public opinion, misogyny, and deception.

Before diving in, here is a brief retelling of the circumstances: Johnny Depp (Depp) sued Amber Heard (Heard) for defamation arising from a 2018 article in the Washington Post titled I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change. While Heard’s name is listed as author, it would later come out that the ACLU penned the piece (to which they later testified). Depp is not mentioned by name in the article. Previously, Depp lost a libel lawsuit against British tabloid The Sun, who printed in 2018 that he was a “wife beater”. Note that in the U.K., it is notoriously hard to win libel suits if you are a publication. As part of the trial, evidence of Depp’s abuse (as provided by Heard’s team) was found to be “substantially true.” The Sun continues to label Depp a “wife beater” in all articles run about him.

So, Depp sued Heard for defamation because of an article in which is he not named and sued Heard (not the ACLU or The Washington Post) to the tune of $50 million…