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Amber Heard’s Lawyer Hits Back At Accusation That The Actress Is Blackmailing Johnny Depp

By Lawrence Arboleda
Published on: 23:07 PST, May 30, 2016

Amber Heard’s lawyer says he is setting the record straight following allegations that she is blackmailing her estranged husband, Johnny Depp.

In a letter to The Wrap, Heard’s attorney, Peter Sample, denied the charges against the actress, claiming that the “allegations against Ms. Heard are absolutely and unequivocally false.” Sample said that the accusation “has no basis in reality,” calling it “nothing but the typical celebrity muckraking for profit.” Heard’s lawyer also demanded that the statement be retracted on account of its defamatory and “outrageous” nature.

According to The Wrap, the publication will respond to Sample’s demands through legal counsel.

The conflict started when Johnny Depp’s friend, Doug Stanhope, published a guest column piece on The Wrap during the weekend, claiming that not only was Depp falsely accused, he was also manipulated by Heard into agreeing to her terms.

In the column piece, Doug decried how Johnny, 52, was painted guilty by many without due process. He also accused Amber, 30, of blackmail.

“But he opened up in the most vulnerable of ways that it was not only his mother, but that Amber was now going to leave him, threatening to lie about him publicly in any and every possible duplicitous way if he didn’t agree to her terms. Blackmail is what I would imagine other people might put it, including the manner in which he is now being vilified.”

The profanity-laced letter claimed that Johnny never abused anyone, and that he “got used, manipulated, set up and made to look like an a–hole.”

Doug’s pronouncements irked Amber Heard’s lawyer, who wrote: “It is highly offensive and disturbing that you would choose to publish it in the first place.”

The Wrap reports that they reached out to Heard’s publicists on Sunday to get a response from her in light of Doug’s controversial piece. Amber hasn’t made any effort to contact them, the publication claimed.

On May 23, Amber filed for divorce from Johnny Depp, citing “irreconcilable differences” and asking for spousal support. On Friday, the actress claimed via court papers that her estranged husband had abused her throughout their four-year relationship and 15-month marriage.

Included with the allegations are two separate accounts detailing how Amber was abused by Johnny, along with photos of her bruised eye.

“During the entirety of our relationship, Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me,” Amber writes in the documents.

Shortly after Amber was granted a temporary restraining order against her husband, Depp’s divorce attorney, Laura Wasser, claimed that the actress’s domestic abuse accusations are financially motivated.

“Amber is attempting to secure a premature financial resolution by alleging abuse,” Wasser said. “Her current application for a temporary restraining order along with her financial requests appears to be in response to the negative media attention she received earlier this week after filing for divorce. Yet Johnny cannot protect himself or Amber from media scrutiny, and Amber’s anger certainly cannot drive this dissolution proceeding.”

While Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are on their way to a divorce, the two reportedly don’t have a prenup, according to TMZ.

In light of this, legal experts claim that the marriage having lasted for only 15 months will make it difficult for Amber to get a considerable amount of money from Depp. They say, however, that it would be more beneficial for Johnny to pay up anyway.

“It’s not really a marriage, it’s a long date,” says celebrity divorce lawyer Raoul Felder. “Ordinarily, [Heard would] get nothing out of it at all… But [Depp is] not protected [if] there’s no prenup.”

“It may be worth his while to give her $200,000 a year for five years or 10 years. If he has to give [Heard] a million dollars to get rid of her, that’s a great deal,” Felder adds.

What are your thoughts on Amber Heard’s domestic abuse allegations against Johnny Depp? Feel free to share your thoughts below.

[Photo by Jason Merritt/Getty Images]

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