Experts told Insider that Johnny Depp was more authentic than Amber Heard.
Heard is accused of defaming him with false domestic violence allegations.
Heard is likely to win the case despite her credibility issues, according to the experts.
The trial against Heard shifted dramatically this week.
In the first three weeks of the case, all of his witnesses called him a gentleman and a liar.
Heard took the stand on Wednesday.
The stakes of the case have been raised by her testimony.
In the trial about the times that Heard punched or verbal attacked him, the testimony was specific and his denials about his own alleged misdeeds were elaborate.
Heard testified that she suffered injuries from being beaten by Depp and that he went on days-long drug binges and beat her.
If her lawyers cannot corroborate that over the next couple of weeks, jurors may not find her credible.
Amber Heard has taken a riskier approach. She claims to have been abused. If the jurors believe her, she should get a windfall and be punished. For that reason, her credibility seems paramount to the jurors.
People close to Heard told Insider that she doesn't want to be there.
The lawsuit was brought against her in March. He alleged that she made him out to be a victim of domestic violence even though she didn't use his name in the article.
Heard was the one who abused him, according to Depp. Heard has denied the claims and filed a countersuit, which claims that she was physically abused by Depp during their relationship. Both parties are having their lawsuits decided by a jury in a Virginia state court.
In a case involving two actors, Heard came across as more of a performer and that could hurt her credibility with the jury, according to the co-chair of the matrimonial and family law practice at Blank Rome.
When she talks about actual incidents of violence, her comments go from a victim to an actress, which is a big problem for her.
Heard made comments about how dirty her carpet was when a slap from Depp knocked her to the floor, which Ward pointed out specifically.
Some of her descriptions sounded like a soliloquy.
Christa Ramey is a co- founder of Ramey Law PC. She said that the level of detail Heard remembers from these alleged assaults isn't usually how victims remember trauma. She said that victims usually have fragmented memories of their experiences.
Ramey said that the mind buries fragments of memories in different parts of the brain and what you recall doesn't come out normally as a story with a beginning, middle, and end.
Heard sat stone-faced through the testimony of Depp, but he has been animated during her. The courtroom cameras show him eating from a pile of gummy bears while his lawyers watch, as well as him cracking jokes in his lawyers ears.
The founder of HeraldPR wouldn't recommend that approach to any of his clients. He said that the reactions may be strategic. It is a way of signaling to the jury and his supporters that Heard's claims are not serious.
He will be taken more seriously if he thinks he will get called out on and get in trouble for it.
He sparred with Heard's lawyers instead of giving straightforward answers when he took the stand.
The fact that he joked a little bit, he came back with a funny retort.
Heard had to finish her side of the story before the weeklong break because of the way the trial is scheduled. She won't be cross-examined until May 16, giving jurors a week to allow her testimony to sink in.
If the jury finds her credible, it will leave the jury with her testimony, and that could be an advantage for her.
It can have a downside. The break gives Heard an advantage in allowing her testimony to sit with the jury, but it also gives her lawyers more time to prepare for her cross-examination, Ramey pointed out.
Huntley Taylor said that Heard's legal team did well. The testimony of a clinical psychologist who evaluated Heard helped dismantle the narrative that his legal team built, as well as give the jury a preview of what they can expect to hear.
She said that the jury would need to believe that Johnny Depp was abusive both in terms of the types of abuse and the amount.
Heard's testimony may seem more credible because a psychologist told the jury it was.
They want to first have an expert let you know in advance how you should think, rather than having Amber Heard speak for herself, he said.
The jury might not like either of them. Like the public, jurors may believe that neither is telling the whole story and that the truth is somewhere in the middle.
The jury may be suspending their judgement on Heard until his lawyers cross-examine her, because the abrasive response to cross-examination by Depp may not have won any fans. Huntley Taylor said that jurors may have been frustrated by how each side told their stories.
She told Insider that jurors don't like the rules of law that prevent them from hearing important information.
The case was always about his reputation, on a personal and professional level. His loss of roles in the Pirates of the Caribbean and Fantastic Beasts movies have made his claims for damages stronger.
Both Ramey and Ward think Heard will win the case, but that the trial may help Depp regain his footing in Hollywood.
The evidence against him is too strong, and he will have a hard time arguing that Heard's op-ed, which came out two years after the abuse allegations first made the news, ruined his career.
The trial may have thrown doubt on Heard's claims that she may be able to start acting again somewhere down the line.
The kind of unfairness of it is that Johnny Depp has a better chance of being put in an independent film or smaller production than she does. That is Hollywood, that is ageism, that is sexism.
The trial has shown that there are a lot of people who believe that Heard is lying. He will have a career in more ethically ambiguous roles, even though he will not be in family-friendly roles again.
Johnny Depp is showing studios and publicists that he can win over audiences. This isn't a criminal trial.
Ramey pointed to the hordes of fans who have come out in person to support him as proof that the public is behind him.
Ramey said that Johnny Depp has won regardless of the outcome of the trial.
Huntley Taylor said that jurors believe the relationship was toxic and that both were responsible for abuse.
Huntley Taylor said that it was possible that jurors would send both parties home with nothing.
The original article can be found on Insider.
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