Last week, Johnny Depp’s comedian friend, Doug Stanhope, wrote an article published at The Wrap accusing Amber Heard of blackmailing his emperor BFF. Amber is now suing Doug for defamation and accusing 20 other unnamed “John Doe” defendants of conspiring to discredit her in the media and engaging in a “publicity tour” meant to put the blame on her for the collapse of the marriage, instead of acknowledging that Johnny’s chronic misuse of drugs and alcohol has led to abusive rages and violent behaviour. In the court filings, Amber formally alleges that Johnny has hit her, kicked her, thrown sh-t at her, and once tried to suffocate her “to the point where she feared for her life”. The lawsuit was filed in Arizona, where Doug lives, and she’s going for the maximum payout and, if successful, she has already declared that the money will be donated to a local organisation that supports victims of abuse.

So Amber’s not only taking it to Johnny, she’s targeting Depp Inc – basically the multi-layered system of entitlement and protection that has enabled his behaviour. On a macro level, you could say she’s attacking the old Hollywood way of star making and star maintaining. Who are the 20 John Does? Agents, publicists, maybe even studio executives, and of course Johnny’s security. Speaking of Johnny’s security – we’ve been hearing a lot about Jerry Judge, the bodyguard who’s been with him for years. Amber alleges that Jerry saw Johnny beating on her a couple of weeks ago and did nothing. “Sources” then told TMZ that Jerry is saying that Amber was faking it and was actually 20 feet away from Johnny when she was calling for help. Those same “sources” claim that Jerry will testify that Amber’s been the abusive one in the relationship. And why is Jerry, who’s on the Depp payroll, any more reliable than anyone else?

Jerry’s been cleaning up Johnny’s messes for a long time. The Australian outlet that was reporting from the set of Pirates 5 last year about Johnny’s hand injury posted an article the other day revealing that Jerry tried to bribe them into giving up their informants. Click here to read it. This doesn’t necessarily mean anything with respect to the divorce and the abuse allegations but it is insight into how it works inside the Johnny Depp machine.