Break-ups are rarely pleasant, but Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard have taken mudslinging—or shall we say poop-flinging?—to new heights.
On Monday, Judge Andrew Nicol of London’s High Court ruled in favor of British newspaper The Sun, which branded Depp a wife beater and urged author J.K. Rowling to have him removed from the film adaptation of her book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The actor, 57, was suing the publication for libel.
Heard claims that Depp assaulted her on multiple occasions, and Nicol deemed published reports of the abuse to be “substantially true.” The Judge also made a point to flush one unsavory rumor down the toilet.
In his 129-page ruling, Nicol includes a section labeled “Faeces on the bed.” It reads that in 2016, a housekeeper discovered excrement in the bed where Depp and Heard slept. She took pictures of the mess and passed them on to her supervisor. Upon seeing the evidence, Depp “regarded the incident as the final straw of his relations with Ms. Heard.”
“I consider that it is unlikely that Ms. Heard or one of her friends was responsible,” writes Nicol. “Mr. Depp had left that night for his property in Sweetzer. As long as he was away, it was Ms. Heard who was likely to suffer from the faeces on the bed, not him. It was, therefore, a singularly ineffective means for Ms. Heard or one of her friends to ‘get back’ at Mr. Depp. Other evidence in the case showed that Boo (one of the two dogs) had an incomplete mastery of her bowels after she had accidentally consumed some marijuana. Ms. Heard gave evidence that Boo had in the past defecated on the bed and that she herself had cleaned it up rather than leave that task to [the housekeeper].”
Depp christened his ex “Amber Turd,” although she has denied responsibility. A spokesperson for the 36-year-old model told Page Six in July, “This accusation is completely untrue and has been designed purely to humiliate Ms. Heard.”
We imagine Heard is relieved to hear an official weigh in on the matter, but far more concerning are her disturbing allegations of abuse. How they will affect Depp’s long-term career remains to be seen.