The Moment Johnny Depp Knew His Marriage To Amber Heard Was Over

Fans were shocked when Amber Heard filed for divorce from Johnny Depp just days after his mom, Betty Sue Palmer, died. However, it turns out that he was relieved because Johnny already knew he and Heard were doomed. The minutia of their ill-fated romance was revealed during their two excruciating courtroom battles. But it was during Johnny and Heard's second defamation trial in 2022 that the actor revealed the moment he knew his marriage to Heard was over.

Now all their dirty laundry has been aired; it seems obvious the union wasn't to be pretty much from the get-go when Johnny and Heard first met during a 2008 script reading for "The Rum Diary" in which they starred together. However, their pheromones immediately began soaring, despite Johnny still being in a relationship with Vanessa Paradis at the time, the mother of his two children Lily-Rose and Jack Depp.

"I knew who he was. I wasn't a fan of his work. I wasn't familiar with him, but I knew who he was. I'm a no-name actor. I was 22, I think. He was twice my age, a world-famous actor," Heard testified in May 2022 (via the Independent). "I thought it was remarkable. I left there, just feeling 'wow,'" she continued. "You're it, kid. You're the dream," she said Johnny told her. It didn't take long for that dream to turn into a nightmare, leading to the moment Johnny Depp knew his marriage to Amber Heard was over.

Johnny Depp revealed the moment he knew his marriage to Heard was over during their second vicious defamation court battle in 2022. The Independent reports that he realized enough was enough after his mom died. "I very calmly said, look, I've made a decision, and I think it's the best thing. I'm going to file for divorce," he testified to telling Heard. "But I'm not going to cite irreconcilable differences. I'm not going to cite any violence. I'm going to state this: we simply, the two of us, we simply don't want to feel as though we have a collar around each other's neck and a leash attached to it, and then this piece of paper that proves that that's true," he continued — a dramatization as the no-fault divorce laws of California only offer two options: "irreconcilable differences" and "permanent legal incapacity to make decisions," per Law Info—but never let the truth get in the way of a good story.

According to the Daily Beast, Depp claimed Betty Sue Palmer's death made him realize the extent of the toxicity of his marriage. He compared Heard's alleged treatment of him to the abuse he suffered from his mom as a child.

"You start to slowly realize that you are in a relationship with your mother, in a sense. And I know that sounds perverse and obtuse. But the fact is, some people search for weaknesses in people," Depp said. "It was a sort of rapid-fire, endless parade of insults."

Amber Heard beat Johnny Depp to the punch. TMZ reports that she filed for divorce in May 2016, three days after his mom's death, citing "irreconcilable differences" and calling an end to their 15-month-long marriage. "Given the brevity of this marriage and the most recent and tragic loss of his mother, Johnny will not respond to any of the salacious false stories, gossip, misinformation, and lies about his personal life," his rep told US Weekly. "Hopefully the dissolution of this short marriage will be resolved quickly."

The dissolution was resolved relatively quickly. Reuters reports that the divorce was finalized eight months later, in January 2017. After the divorce, Heard wrote an op-ed for the Washington Post in 2018 about being a victim of abuse. Although she didn't mention Depp by name, Depp felt it was apparent who the article's subject was. After the Sun ran a glaring headline branding Depp a "wife-beater," he launched a defamation lawsuit. When he lost that case in London, he filed another defamation suit against Heard in Fairfax County, Virginia, USA.

According to Vanity Fair, live coverage of the trainwreck trial doubled Court TV's ratings as millions tuned in to watch every horrendous allegation and accusation play out, minute by minute. Ultimately Depp was victorious in the second suit, but, in reality, there was no winner, just two exposed, angry, and bitter exes.