Johnny Depp lawyer pushes back on expert’s comparison of Amber Heard to Jason Momoa, Gal Gadot and Zendaya

Johnny Depp’s lawyer has pushed back on an expert’s assessment of Amber Heard’s career and comparison to actors like Jason Momoa, Zendaya and Gal Gadot.

In the trial where Mr Depp is suing his ex-wife for defamation, entertainment consultant Kathryn Arnold said Ms Heard might be enjoying the same career success as Gadot, Momoa and Zendaya if not for team Depp’s alleged “smear campaign” against her.

“When you look at the time frame of when the Waldman statements came out [in 2020], and you look at what was going on with Ms Heard’s career prior to the statement and what happened after the statement, it’s very clear to make that correlation,” Ms Arnold testified in court on Monday 23 May.

“It would have been very reasonable to believe her career would have been on an upward trajectory of those other actors if not for the hoax allegations.”

Adam Waldman accused Heard of orchestrating an “abuse hoax” in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2020.

Ms Arnold added that Ms Heard’s career was “following a very nice steady rise and was on the precipice of a meteoric rise with Aquaman and Aquaman 2, prior to the [defamatory] statements”.

During cross-questioning, Mr Depp’s lawyers pushed back on Ms Arnold’s comparison.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star’s team claimed that Ms Arnold’s comparison of Ms Heard to the aforementioned actors was way off the mark, as all of them were either signed up to blockbuster franchises or had higher profile careers than Ms Heard back in 2020.

Last week, Ms Heard said that her role in Aquaman 2 was significantly cut down amid her battle with Mr Depp.

Speaking in court, the actor commented: “I fought really hard to stay in the movie. They didn’t want to include me in the film.”

She added: “I was given a script and then given new versions of the script that had taken away scenes that had action in it. That depicted my character and another character, without giving any spoilers away, two characters fighting with one another. They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch.”

Ms Heard claims that her part in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, which is set for release in 2023, was cut down after Mr Depp’s team called her initial abuse claims a “hoax”.

Taking to the stand in Fairfax County, Virginia, Ms Heard testified that she was paid $1m for the first Aquaman film, in addition to a box office bonus, which was released in 2018. She added that her contract said she would make $2m for the second film.

When Ms Heard’s lawyer Elaine Bredehoft asked her if she had been able to get work since, Ms Heard replied: “I have done one small independent film.”

Follow all the live updates of the Depp-Heard trial here.

With the court procedings still ongoing, a number of high-profile to have voiced their support for Heard, with Julia Fox, Rachel Riley and Kathy Griffin among those to speak out.

Others, meanwhile, have publicly thrown their support behind Depp, with celebrities including Winona Ryder, Javier Bardem and Eva Green among those appearing to take the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s side in the dispute.