A shouting spectator, Camille Vasquez and alpacas: Unlikely cult celebrities of Johnny Depp v Amber Heard

Trial provided an extraordinary spectacle and a cast of unforgettable supporting characters who found themselves in unexpected spotlight

When a verdict was reached in the bitter defamation trial fought between divorced Hollywood actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in Fairfax County, Virginia, credits rolled on the end of eight weeks of blockbuster drama devoured by online audiences around the world.

Mr Depp, 58, sued Ms Heard, 35, for $50m (£40m) over an opinion piece she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she discussed domestic abuse and experiencing “the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out”.

Although Ms Heard did not name Mr Depp – to whom she was married between 2015 and 2017 – his legal team argued that readers of the newspaper were likely to assume he was the person responsible for the ordeal she alluded to and claimed that the article caused their client to lose out on lucrative movie roles.

On 1 June, the jury returned a verdict in favour of Mr Depp and ordered Ms Heard to pay him $10m in compensatory damages and $5m in punitive damages.

Ms Heard countersued Mr Depp, whom she met when they starred together as lovers in The Rum Diary in 2011, for $100m (£80m), arguing that it is she who has been defamed by his lawyers arguing that her claims to victimhood amount to a “hoax”.

She won a single part out of three listed in her counterclaim and Mr Depp was in turn ordered to pay her $2m.

Fans of the estranged couple exhaustively documented the plaintiff and defendant’s every move and mannerism in court, their attorneys’ arguments, the judge’s interventions and a wealth of colourful witness testimony on TikTok, Instagram and Twitter, carving up what might have amounted to dry legal proceedings into a spectator sport.

All of which raised disapproving eyebrows in some quarters, with concerns expressed that the real issue at the heart of the case, domestic violence, was lost in what has become a bad taste viral soap opera.

While those criticisms are more than valid, there is no question that the trial provided an extraordinary spectacle and a cast of unforgettable supporting characters who found themselves unlikely cult celebrities.

Judge Penney Azcarate

First off, it is only proper to raise a “mega-pint” to the woman who has overseen the whole circus with stolid good sense, humour and, occasionally, endearing bafflement.

Quick to restore order when laughter erupted in court, notably when Mr Depp admitted to not watching his own films, Judge Azcarate held it together admirably and who could blame her for being somewhat stunned by it all when lawyers were objecting to their own lines of questioning?

Camille Vasquez

Mr Depp’s glamorous counsel, in particular, has become an improbable social media star throughout the trial, inspiring several fan accounts, memes likening her to the Marvel heroes Thor and She-Hulk and even a rumour that she is dating her client, a suggestion she politely laughed off when asked about it directly on the courthouse steps by a TMZ reporter.

An affectionate embrace between Mr Depp and Ms Vasquez on 17 May only encouraged the TikTok crowd to imagine a romance between them but Judi James, a more cynical body language expert, told The Daily Mail it could all be part of their strategy: “For Depp’s loyal fans these dramatic rituals will seem like validation… ‘If this smart, beautiful woman thinks he is OK then maybe he is’ will be the implied message.”

Ms Vasquez cemented her popularity with the #JusticeForJohnnyDepp die-hards by raising an extraordinary number of quickfire objections to a summary being made by Ms Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft, leaving the latter to comment in exasperation: “I’m trying… I’m trying.”

Elaine Bredehoft

Speaking of Ms Vasquez’s opposite number, she enjoyed her fair share of memorable moments during proceedings, notably drawing a grin from the plaintiff when she gamely dropped her voice to impersonate him, reading out a transcript of a tape in which Mr Depp had declared: “You will not see my eyes again.”

More seriously, the attorney brought an affecting line from her client when she asked Ms Heard why her former husband cannot now look her in the eye and she answered: “Because he’s guilty. He knows he’s lying. Why can’t he look at me? I survived that man and I’m here and I’m able to look at him.”

Later, Ms Bredehoft surprised even Mr Depp when she asked airport security officer Beverly Leonard whether she had only volunteered to appear as a witness so that “you can get on TV”.

Adam Nadelhaft

Her co-counsel, Adam Nadelhaft, made a name for himself when he raised a “hearsay objection” during his own questioning of Ben King, Ms Heard’s house manager.

“But you asked the question,” a perplexed Judge Azcarate responded, bringing stutters of embarrassment from Mr Nadelhaft and giggles from the opposition bench.

Alejandro Romero

The concierge of the Eastern Columbia Building in downtown Los Angeles, where Mr Depp owned five penthouses and lived with Ms Heard for three years, Alejandro Romero provided the court with an utterly bizarre pre-recorded deposition on 28 April.

Filming from behind the wheel of his car, sipping soda and smoking impatiently, Mr Romero cut an exasperated figure and was clearly uninterested in answering questions from Ms Bredehoft about an incident from May 2016 when police were called to the complex to respond to a heated dispute between the couple.

“You sent me the papers to review, and I didn’t even want to review it because it’s been so long. It’s like I just don’t want to deal with this anymore,” he complained.

“I’m so stressed out because of this, I just don’t want to deal with this anymore. I’m tired, I don’t want to deal with this court case, everybody’s got problems and I don’t want to deal with this anymore.”

Malcolm Connolly

Another celebrated witness was this grizzled Scottish bodyguard, who had been assigned to protect Mr Depp when he was in Australia shooting Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales in 2015.

Mr Connolly won himself a legion of fans when he was asked on 2 May about an incident in which he was forced to intervene in another domestic argument between the couple but wound up baffled by Ms Heard’s attorneys insisting that Mr Depp had been urinating in the foyer as he had entered the apartment house in question.

The security guard denied this detail but his interrogators persisted: “Mr Depp had his penis out, didn’t he?”

Perplexed, Mr Connolly delivered the immortal answer, “I think I would remember if I’d seen Mr Depp’s penis,” prompting a roar of laughter from the actor.

Dr David Spiegel

The psychiatrist was cross-examined on 23 May about his earlier contention that Mr Depp’s use of an earpiece on set, so that he could be prompted on key lines, might indicate impairment or mental deterioration as a result of drug and alcohol abuse.

“I don’t believe that actors are routinely given their entire script through earpieces,” Dr Spiegel said. “I find that hard to believe.”

This led to a wild exchange about whether or not legendary actor Marlon Brando, with whom Mr Depp worked on his directorial debut The Brave in 1997, ever wore one.

“Isn’t he dead? So the answer is no, he does not use one now,” Dr Spiegel responded, baffled, as Mr Depp struggled to hide his chuckling.

Dr Spiegel was also forced to backtrack when accused of previously having called the star “an idiot” and subsequently found that his WebMD and Google pages had been inundated with negative reviews from irate Depp stans.

He told The Independent: “I have always believed that an individual’s hero should best be someone a person knows and not someone they think they know, thus preventing this level of disappointment.”

The hysterical fan escorted out

There was commotion in the public gallery on 23 May when one of Mr Depp’s supporters had to be removed after suddenly crying out: “Johnny, I love you! Our souls are connected… This baby is yours.”

The target of her appeal simply smiled and waved.

Morgan Tremaine

The former TMZ employee, testifying for Mr Depp on 25 May, offered a scathing comeback when Ms Bredehoft suggested he was only appearing to secure a taste of the spotlight for himself.

Cross-examining Mr Tremaine about his work for the California gossip website, which had seen him dispatch paparazzi to photograph Ms Heard during the breakdown of her marriage in 2016, the attorney asked him whether he was pursuing his “15 minutes of fame” by speaking on behalf of the Hollywood veteran.

The witness acidly responded: “I could say the same thing about taking Amber Heard as a client, for you.”

Judy the stenographer

As proceedings drew to a close last week, Judge Azcarate thanked the legal teams involved and all of the court staff present for their professionalism throughout, before singling out Judy the stenographer, whom she called a “rock star”, earning the functionary a round of applause and laughter in the courtroom.

A true cult icon online, where many viewers believe she is harbouring a secret crush on Mr Depp betrayed by occasional, seemingly lovestruck glances, she even has her own hashtag.

Teddy and Truffle

Last but by no means least, these two alpacas were brought to the courthouse regularly by Johnny Depp fan Andrea Diaz, founder and owner of My Pet Alpaca, a business she reportedly started during the pandemic to provide emotional support to children.

The animals became fixtures of proceedings and both Ms Vasquez and co-counsel Ben Chew posed for pictures with them.

Oddly, the question of alpacas came up inside the courthouse too.

In a pre-recorded deposition by Disney executive Tina Newman, she was asked whether the corporation would really be prepared to pay $300m (£240m) and a million alpacas to reprise his role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates franchise, as the actor had jokingly proposed.

Ms Newman answered “no”, saying the matter was “above my pay grade”.