Anyone watching Amber heard take the stand?

[Meltinthemiddle]

Really not sure what to think tbh.

@User310
But what she is saying could be true though, so if you interpret the body language in the other way and had the gut feeling that she was telling the truth then it's not a good way of assessing the whole picture, because 2 people could look at her on the stand, listen to what she's saying and come to completely opposite conclusions.

I just brought Amanda Knox into it to say that people generally believe what they want to believe, people who have the gut feeling that she's lying will use their confirmation bias and see the hiding of the lips as lying..even though it might not mean that.

Personally I believe they were both abusive towards each other.

Clicked submit too soon

I personally believe they were both abusive towards each other. I just hate all the gut feeling/body language stuff because most people are incredibly biased when they are watching and they see what they want to see.

This.

I believe her.
As many have said, it was clearly a toxic relationship on both sides BUT JD is suing her for implying that HE was abusive (since he wasn't actually named in the piece). Whether or not she was abusive isn't on trial here - the jury are being asked whether or not JD was abusive. Just as was the case for the Sun trial too.

Was JD abusive? I think so. Having lived through an abusive relationship with an alcohol, I see so many similarities in behaviour, it's actually chilling to watch.

That’s it? That’s your balanced post?

Do you have any idea how unpleasant, bitchy and misogynistic you sound?

I have a low opinion of her from what friends who have dealt with her through work have shared, classic spolit, self promoting narc is the most typical summary of her character in their opinion. So I am aware my bias is affecting me as some of those people have only shared good opinions on JD-kind, humble, generous etc and yes he has an addiction going on but I just do not find AH credible and think narcissists are utterly dishonest when it serves them-JD fell for her and I am sure regrets the day he crossed paths with such a skilled manipulator.

As much as I initially wanted to believe her the more I’ve seen/read the more I feel this is someone with BPD who felt emotionally very hurt and betrayed by the end of her volatile relationship and has gotten carried away embellishing stories to the point she has boxed herself into a corner with them.

When I listened to a recording of one of their fights, and she was saying "I didn't punch you, my hand was open" ; "I didn't hurt you, you're fine" and "you're such a baby" the dislike I felt for her was overwhelming.

I absolutely don't believe her - in my opinion she's no way a victim, just a neurotic mess who's great at acting.

She's doing women who actually are domestic violence victims a real disservice if I'm right.

What an unusual number of people on this thread that claim personal interaction with one or both of these two.

I think it’s a very sad read.

I watched it and I found the beginning of her testimony to be genuine and heartfelt but when it moved to talking about Johnny Depp, I became skeptical.

Both of them come from backgrounds of child abuse which will have affected their development and love map. They essentially were never given the tools by their parents on how to have healthy relationships. They observed a normal marriage to be abusive, involving violence. This is going to cause immense emotional harm to a child so in that regard, they are both victims of domestic abuse in the sense that they observed it as a child.

They were also both physically abused as a child and will have likely come to equate violence with love.

When you bring 2 people like that together in a relationship who both do not have the tools to communicate and resolve conflict, it is a disaster waiting to happen. Throw drugs and alcohol into the mix and it could never be a healthy relationship.

She's not credible. Not to mention dreary and boring as hell.

Can't wait for the cross examination.

Loves young 'older man' dream gone horribly wrong for both of them

I agree. I've listened to most of this case , and what I've heard is plenty of evidence for her hitting him, and no evidence for him hitting her. There was obvious mental abuse from both sides but the case is about her asserting that she was a victim of physical violence . If I was on the jury I wouldn't be convinced by her act on the stand.

I was convinced by her evidence today. I was convinced by the findings in the earlier case against the Sun.
She doesn’t need to be a perfect person to have faced domestic and sexual violence. Nor does she have to never fight back or never be unkind or mean. Her story rang true of what I know personally about domestic abuse. He was definitely the one with the power and control in the relationship and he still has today
I’m a bit bored by all the obvious gotcha and bot posts on social media

I just watched a lot of her statement and I actually do believe her and what she says and I was never a fan of hers at all and always a big fan of Johnny. But a lot of what she says makes sense as have been in a domestic violence situation myself and can really understand and connect to what she is saying and do not think she sounds rehearsed at all. Am shocked as before would have sided with Johnny just because I liked him and was so into him as a teenager. But I do believe her and can really feel the pain of her telling her story and how much she was in love with him and how he changed and questioning what she was wearing and calling her names, how things slowly escalated until he slapped her. That is how most abuse starts and he was using cocaine and that makes a person act out and he was drinking heavily also. I guess there was a volatile relationship as lots of passion and both guilty but I do think he behaved in a way that he was hot and cold in the relationship and that played on her insecurity. Shocked as did not think would believe her but I do as I can just see it in her that she is not lying and not about liking her at all but she is telling the truth I really think.

I also believe her about the smashing of plates by Johnny as my ex did this one day, he just came home and was so angry and am guessing he was on cocaine then which I did not know about until after I left, he was smashing plates just like Johnny did and so aggressive. People question why she married him, when you are in that situation you lose all sense of who you are and you think the good times will return and it is only after you leave that you realize you should have left the first time they were so angry smashing things. I actually believe her as Johnny was too calm during his examination and laughing and acted like a narcissist and not real at all. She seems in pain talking about it all but to him it is like he is acting a part and not her.

Yep. Someone who had only retaliated wouldn't make statements like that, and wind them up. She seems to think that people wont believe a man can be a victim and the woman can be the abuser, in honesty I think she's right. Some people will never see a man as being the victim.

I tend to have quite black and white thinking (autistic) so I do struggle with nuances, but I am so confused by people who believe and support Amber Heard. And no, I'm not a Johnny Depp fan either but I believe that he's been deeply wronged by Amber Heard.

Depp doesn't need to be a saint for her to have abused him. We all know he's got his own demons, with drug addiction and alcohol. If a female victim had been shamed in the same way he has been for his behaviour, there would be outcry.

In the recordings when Amber Heard admits hitting Johnny Depp, there's no mention of "well, you hit me before" etc. There's quite literally no proof from anyone that Amber Heard ever suffered from violence. Other than two people she names, who are both conveniently dead.

You don't have to like JD or approve of his behaviour to think that he's innocent of domestic abuse.

She lied blatantly and openly about donating the money - and she sounded credible. We now know that it was a lie. I'm sorry, but she has no credibility and a track record of being very comfortable about lying in court. All we've seen is JD slamming a couple of cupboards - I've done that myself when I've been in a temper yet I've never laid a finger on a single person in my life.

Terrible relationship that brought out the worst in both. But I can't bear liars - and everything points to AH lying through her arse. And that's a terrible, terrible thing to think about some of the claims she's made. I've tried to look for reasons to believe her but I just can't find anything at all. And her performance on the stand today just supports that belief.

Completely agree with this. The two of them were totally toxic together through no fault of their own.

This isn't going end well for either of them. I highly doubt they will work again.

It's also worth pointing out that even if the reporting is horribly misogynistic and biased, it still doesn't mean that she's the good guy here.

Yes!! Amber Heard is being held to much higher standards than Johnny Depp.

I have just heard an interviewee on Times Radio say "she brought this out of him" talking about JD's drug and alcohol abuse. The presenter didn't even question the comment. So women are still responsible for male behaviour.

JD was the one who brought this to court. He has been pursuing AH through the courts for years. I believe he is an abusive, narcissistic man.

JD was the one who brought this to court. He has been pursuing AH through the courts for years. I believe he is an abusive, narcissistic man.

If someone had written an article about me, destroying my reputation and costing me jobs, I'd take them to court too.

I am a staunch feminist and DV survivor, I have watched the trial. My father has also been in an abusive relationship for years with an absolute nightmare of a woman. I heard so much of her rhetoric in the recordings and Amber’s testimony. She claims to have been sexually abused too. She abused previous partners - she stabbed her ex-husband and so far has beaten my father, and tried to set fire to his home whilst he was in it. I believe Johnny Depp is innocent.

Mumsnet is the only place I have where people are blindly believing Amber Heard in the face of overwhelming evidence. It’s very upsetting. Before someone brings up his texts - the things my father and I have said about his partner in one of the phases he managed to leave her, I wouldn’t be particularly proud to have them read in court. But they don’t indicate my, or my father’s predisposition to abuse. Amber Heard so far has zero concrete evidence of Johnny Depp abusing her (a kitchen, yes, while she smirked at the camera) while Johnny has presented evidence that he was hit. She is on tape admitting it.

she is absolutely disgusting and bringing down the reputation of DV victims and she has inadvertently made it a lot easier to discredit us by lying. She even took her assistants story of rape and claimed it as her own for gods sake. What more will it take? The mental gymnastics on here are frustrating.

A lot of posters on here claim to be concerned about toxic masculinity. But here you all are, holding up the double standards that a man can’t possibly be abused.

I also believe amber, watching her on thr stand I don’t think she was lying and she’s not that good an actress, no one is. I think what she’s saying about the abuse is true.

However this doesn’t mean she didn’t abuse him also. Drink and drugs played a large part of what went wrong in this relationship, as well as two very narcissistic people getting together.

the only caveat I’d add here is amber was only 26 when she started her relationship with him, he was 48 and much more powerful, wealthy, famous, successful. They were not equals. There was a huge power imbalance in this relationship and it does change the dynamics of how abuse plays out when that occurs.

she was a woman in her mid twenties with a powerful wealthy man who was knocking on fifty who many fans couldn’t believe wrong of. He was also a druggie and boozer. It was ripe conditions for abuse to occur.

she’s in there fighting tooth and nail to make her story heard, and the power imbalance and the fact we live in an often mysogynistic world, makes this very difficult indeed.

Just to add. My father’s partner did exactly what Amber did and tried to claim he had abused her. The police refused to progress the case as the evidence matched my father’s statement, not hers, but my father was too embarrassed to pursue any legal action against her. He is currently still with her and I live in fear that I’ll get a phone call with bad news.

but going by Mumsnet logic “he’s bigger than her and gets angry and drinks and she is a woman, so even if she did hit him, it’s his fault”