Johnny Depp’s legal battle against ex-wife Amber Heard has begun in the courts of Virginia

In opening arguments Johnny Depp’s team claims Amber Heard destroyed his life with “a lie” and that she is “obsessed” with her image.

But Heard’s team argues the Pirates of the Caribbean star brought her to court simply to “destroy her”.

Johnny Depp is suing Heard for $50 million under a defamation claim for an article she wrote for Washington post in 2018 claiming to be a domestic violence victim.

While the article never mentioned Depp by name, the actor’s lawyers insist that it damaged his reputation.

“The evidence will show that Ms. Heard’s false allegation had a significant impact on Depp’s family and his ability to work in the profession he loved,” Depp’s lawyer says.

“Today his name is associated with a lie,” he says.

Heard’s lawyers argue that his career’s “free fall” was because of his own actions and the choices he made.

The actress is also counter suing Depp for $100 million with her lawyers claiming that Depp had inflicted physical and emotional abuse on her.

“He penetrated her with a Liquor bottle,” Heard’s attorney, Bredehofft says.

Camille Vasquez, one of Depp’s lawyers, tells the jury that the actress is “ready to give the performance of her life” and that she had been the aggressor in the relationship.

“Miss Heard painted herself as a heroic and innocent survivor of abuse by Mr. Depp … to raise her own profile and to advance her own career,” Vasquez says.

The court also sees Depp’s older sister take a stand who claims to have seen Heard hurl insults towards the actor multiple times, once calling him an “old fat man”.

His attorneys also claim that the only medical report filed during the relationship was of the injury Depp sustained during an argument.

“She threw a vodka bottle at him that hit his hand and exploded, severing the end of one of his fingers,” Vasquez tells the court.

Heard’s lawyers will also use testimonies from Elon Musk and James Franco.

Depp’s 2018 UK libel trial

The american trial comes two years after Depp sued the the publishers of British newspaper The Sun for libel over calling the actor a ‘wife beater’ in their article.

The UK trial went on for three weeks until he lost.

According to the judges, majority of Heard’s accusations could be proven so the abuse was more likely to have occurred.

Rijul Baath contributed to this report