Amber Heard replaces PR team ahead of trial this week

Amber Heard talking with the legal team at the trial on April 27 in Fairfax, Virginia, USA – Photo: REUTERS

May 1, newspaper New York Post reported that actress Heard fired the PR team on April 28 because she was upset with the news articles about her and Depp’s blockbuster lawsuit.

“She doesn’t like nasty headlines,” a source said. Another source said Heard, 36, was “disappointed that her story was not being told effectively”.

The decision was made by Heard after the trials were not very smooth with the testimonies of Depp’s witnesses and the actress was attacked on social networks.

Heard’s PR work will now be handled by consulting firm Shane Communications. The new team had some experience fighting Depp in the actor’s lawsuit against former business managers in 2017. At the time, the group targeted accusations that Depp had a habit of spending $2 million a month.

However, many people think that this week’s trial will be very difficult for Heard. “After the story has built up over the years, it’s hard to change public opinion in three weeks of being sued,” said one person in the PR crisis management field.

Lis Smith, former campaign manager for US politician Pete Buttigieg, said it was “crazy to change teams in the middle of a lawsuit just because you don’t like the headlines”.

At the trial that took place in Fairfax, Virginia, on April 27, as in previous hearings, media was videotaped throughout the trial, meaning that neither party would be able to choose what information to broadcast. Heard didn’t want the trial to be videotaped in the first place, but Depp’s team won by streaming the trial live.

Depp, 58, sues ex-wife for $50 million in relation to Heard’s newspaper article Washington Post, in which she describes herself as “a public figure representing domestic violence” but does not mention Depp by name.

Just days after the article was published, Depp was dropped from the series Pirates of the Caribbean by Disney. Depp’s career went downhill after that with a series of movies and brands turning away.

In his testimony before the court on April 25, the actor said that he was also a victim of domestic violence.

Heard then filed a $100 million lawsuit against Depp, claiming her ex-husband defamed her. Heard’s attorneys argued that she was physically and sexually abused by her ex-husband, and that Depp’s denial was unreliable because the actor was often drunk and could not remember what happened.