Comedian Doug Stanhope: Amber Heard is blackmailing Johnny Depp
Comedian Doug Stanhope has become one of the latest celebrities to defend actor Johnny Depp against allegations of domestic violence by his estranged wife, Amber Heard.
Depp's exes, Vanessa Paradis and Lori Anne Allison, have reportedly said they don't believe the accusations, while Stanhope has written a column for TheWrap, claiming that Heard is blackmailing his friend.
Stanhope wrote that he and Depp's other friends always believed Heard was "manipulative" and even called her abusive.
"When your friend is in an awful, abusive relationship -- man or woman -- and you risk weighing in that their counterpart is a demon, you know the odds are they will jump right back into the fire and then dump you from their life for being honest," he said of Depp.
Stanhope also claimed that Heard threatened to lie about Depp in the press. He said Depp told him "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 comedian wrote that he regretted not expressing his feelings about Heard before to Depp, but that he would now publicly stand up for his friend.