Amber Heard Domestic Abuse Case Study

Shortly after the news broke that actress Amber Heard was divorcing Johnny Depp and getting a restraining order due to continued emotional and physical abuse throughout their fifteen-month marriage, gossip media outlets seized the opportunity to report. A photo of Amber, with a bruised face, went viral as soon as it dropped, and gossip sites everywhere began talking about the alleged abuse. While some of this reporting was unbiased and fair, many of the articles were written with information from unreliable sources that vilified Amber. Headlines brought up Amber’s past and used a part of her identity against her, and unsubstantiated claims were made that Amber’s “constant partying” and “bisexual tendencies” (The Sun) were what ultimately led

In most cases, this portrayal ends up singling out and blaming the victim. Instead of focusing on why someone perpetrates abuse, the media tends to focus on what the victim did – before, during, and after alleged domestic abuse took place. This was a running theme in the Heard/Depp case – lawyers and the media accused Amber of deliberately trying to rile Johnny up or make him angry, interrogated her about why she didn’t report abuse earlier, and questioned her motives during the divorce

As people who have been on the receiving end of physical violence, victims are already in a vulnerable place, and it is our responsibility to create an environment where they feel support and respect when sharing their stories. This comes with not taking gossip media reports at face value, and being willing to be independent in our thinking domestic abuse. This comes with making efforts to end the cycle of abuse – efforts such as not making uneducated and abhorrent comments about abuse victims on TMZ videos. And this comes, arguably most importantly, with being a voice for those who are too afraid to speak up about their experiences. We have to show abuse victims that they are not alone, that they are worthy of respect and that their story deserves to be heard. Mainstream gossip media has done little to help show abuse victims that they are credible, so in the end, it is up to us to fight to stop the cycle of abuse, and above all, show abuse victims that they are not