Zendaya was one of several of A-Listers name-checked during Johnny Depp's defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard, in which he is seeking $50 million in damages over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post.
Entertainment consultant Kathryn Arnold took to the stand on Monday (May23) and claimed Heard might be enjoying the same career success to 'comparable actors' such as the Euphoria star, Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa if not for Depp’s team’s alleged 'smear campaign' against her.
Arnold testified in court: “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.
“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.
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She added that Heard’s career trajectory 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' and now her 'world has been silent in terms of opportunities'.
Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman accused the Magic Mike actress of concocting an 'abuse hoax' in an interview with the Daily Mail in 2020.
Following Arnold’s testimony, Depp’s lawyer pushed back on the expert’s assessment of Heard’s career during cross-examining and claimed her comparison of Heard to the aforementioned actors was way off the mark.
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Depp’s attorney commented that the name-checked actors were either stars of blockbuster franchises or had higher profile careers than Heard in 2020.
Depp's team also noted that Gadot played a recurring role in the Fast & Furious franchise before joining the DC universe as Wonder Woman while Heard’s appearance in Aquaman as Mera was a 'supporting role' to Momoa’s titular superhero.
The latest comments comes after DC Films and Warner Bros. chief Walter Hamada squashed claims that Depp was the reason Heard was almost let go from the Aquaman sequel.
Heard, 36, had earlier claimed that her role in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom was 'pared down' due to her very public legal battle with Depp.
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"I had to fight really hard to keep my career,” Heard told the court last week. “After I got my temporary restraining order, I lost opportunities. I got cancelled from jobs. I got dropped from a campaign I had shot. I fought to keep my job in the biggest movie opportunity I had to date – Justice League, with the option [for] Aquaman," she continued, adding that she 'fought really hard to stay in the [Aquaman sequel]'.
“They basically took a bunch out of my role. They just removed a bunch,” she said.
However, Hamada, who testified via video link, said that this isn't true, and that her role was actually called into question because the studio was concerned about Heard's lack of 'chemistry' with her co-star Jason Momoa.
Topics: Amber Heard, US News, Zendaya