When Amber Heard Speaks, Who Is Talking?

 

Amber Heard keeps educating us about narcissism.

The narcissist often betrays the truth inadvertently—demonstrating, for one thing, that they are not truly delusional. They know they are lying.

Asked by Savannah Guthrie whether she lost her defamation trial because Depp had better lawyers, Heard concedes “they were better at distracting the jury from the real issues.”

Which, if you think about it, is a backhanded admission that the job of her own lawyers was to distract the jury from the real issues. 

Heard appeals more than once to the fact that she is a human being—that the jury, the general public, and those on social media must remember this and treat her with kindness.

For most people, this ought to go without saying. That Heard feels she must say it implies that she sees others as humans like herself only with some conscious effort. She sees other people as “randos.”

Some listeners might feel she failed to treat Johnny Depp with kindness or consider his feelings.

Accused of faking emotion to the jury during her testimony; of, in the words of Depp’s lawyers, “putting on the performance of a lifetime,” Heard responds, “said by the lawyer for the man who convinced the world that he had scissors for fingers.”

This is how the narcissist thinks. The narcissist lies with ease because they deny a moral difference between lying and an artistic performance. This is why, in general, they cannot appreciate either art or jokes. You simply invent your “narrative,” and declare that it is true. Were this not the way Heard habitually thinks, she would have known how bizarre this comment would sound to others.

To the narcissist, everything they do is a performance, calculated for effect. They always only play themselves.

Asked if she ever instigated violence, Heard responds “I didn’t need to.” This is an inadvertent admission that the violence was her idea. If she did not always initiate it, she always provoked it.

Asked whether she herself was violent, Heard pointed out that, faced with abuse, one’s moral sense is distorted: one cannot see right and wrong clearly “as you or I can.”

This came so close to an inadvertent admission that Heard had not been abused that it was cut out of the final version of the interview, no doubt at the insistence of her lawyers.

Why are narcissists like Heard, in the end, so bad at lying? Why do they drop such clues?

This is the operation of the conscience, and proves that we all have one. Any narcissist is at war with themself, as if they have two distinct personalities. Hence the concept of demonic possession. 

The Narcissistic Smirk

 

It is a bit disappointing that Johnny Depp did not get a settlement of $50 million, and Amber Heard nothing. That would have felt more like justice. I think Depp had a reasonable case that he had lost as much as $50 million in career damage. And there seems to me no logic in finding defamation against his lawyer, who had good reason to believe he was speaking the truth. And if he didn’t, is Depp responsible for what he said?

But in a way, this outcome is best. Had Depp gotten more than he did, sympathy might have moved towards Heard, which would be the worst outcome. Many would feel sorry for her despite what she did.

Reputedly, she will not be able to cover the present settlement. She is supposed to be worth only $2 million. Odd, though, since she got $7 million from Depp a few years ago, and has not donated any of it to charity. Where did it all go?

The bottom line is, the jury found that Johnny Depp did not abuse Amber Heard; that her claims that he did were lies. That is a great victory for all the victims of narcissists, and especially for abused men. It reassures me that there is some justice in the world.

I hope now he gets his career back. 

Another advantage of the trial is that it revealed to us who the good people are in Hollywood: those who stuck by Depp. Oddly enough, they tend to be celebrities I always suspected were nice people.

Many observers have noticed that Heard had a tendency to “smirk” during proceedings: a distinctive half-smile in which only one side of the mouth goes up.

This facial expression, for whatever reason, is absolutely characteristic of narcissists. Perhaps it shows their own internal confidence in their superiority; they believe they are putting something over on the world. It is familiar to anyone whose life has been cursed by a narcissist.

Watch and think carefully: Have you ever seen this expression in another? If you ever see this expression in another, habitually, you see a red flag. Get away if you can.

How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?

 

Another illustration from Amber Heard of how the narcissist scapegoats: early in her testimony, she described an incident in which Johnny Depp held his small dog out the car window while the car was moving.

This has not been corroborated by anyone else in the cart.

Now someone has found an image of Heard holding her dog out a car window.https://www.theartsofentertainment.com/breaking-video-emerges-of-amber-heard-holding-dog-out-car-window/

Some claim that narcissists have no conscience. This is not true. They know they are doing wrong, Otherwise they would not scapegoat. 

Forever Amber

On the stand, Amber Heard neatly illustrates many of the tendencies of the narcissist. It is a great public service Johnny Depp has done to get her before the general public. 

One is to say the opposite of the truth. 

This is instinctive. If you are going to lie, it feels safest to say truth’s exact opposite. That feels like it keeps you away from danger. But in fact, this means the narcissist often gives themselves away, if you are paying attention. Just reverse valences.

An example is Heard’s claim that she concealed bruises on her face using makeup. At one point, she called this makeup a “bruise kit,” then quickly corrected herself. She had to, because there is such a thing as a “bruise kit.” Actors use it to fake bruises.

Faking bruises is far easier than concealing real ones, and any actor would be familiar with how to do so. Not so much with how to cover them. She was giving herself away.

Narcissists cannot accept blame for anything. Many have noticed this about Heard: as she tells it, she never did anything wrong throughout the relationship. Even when faced with blatant evidence to the contrary. Compare Depp, who admits to various addictions.

An inevitable further tendency of the narcissist, related to both of these, is to scapegoat. They will project their own sins onto someone else, usually a victim designated in their mind for the purpose.

Heard accuses Depp of everything she has done herself. She was abusing him, so she insists he was abusing her. She grievously injured him with a bottle, so she insists that he injured her with a bottle—and in a way she can imagine was worse. She has a reputation for destroying phones in fits of anger; so she accuses Depp of injuring himself destroying a phone.  Heard was at least as addicted a drug user as Depp; yet she insists that only he had the problem, and her constant concern was to get him off them.

I hope the public is learning. Heard is a predictable type. Too many of us are familiar with it personally.

Thar She Blows!

 

Several observers have pointed out that at one point during the Depp-Heard defamation trial, it looks as though Amber Heard takes a snort of cocaine while on the stand. She buries her nose only partially in a handkerchief, holds one nostril closed, then removes the handkerchief and wipes her nose with her hand. 

I think it is just what it looks like.

Heard also, one day, after testifying, and instructed by the judge to return to her seat with her lawyers, instead walked out of the courtroom. 

Some narcissists will deliberately engage in “reckless behavior.” We see here an example. This is to show their contempt for those around them. It declares their superiority.

This may be a sign Heard expects to lose the case. So she must show her contempt. Narcissists tend to do this only when they feel vulnerable.

Why did Heard torture Depp?

First, out of envy. In order to be the centre of attention, the narcissist must pull down anyone else getting attention. They must destroy all that is noble, fine, and beautiful.

Second, Heard also tortured Depp for enjoyment. Narcissists like making people feel bad, and feed, vampire-like, off the emotion. It is an exercise in power and control.

The Triel of the Century?

 

Apparently, everyone is glued to the Depp-Heard defamation trial. Polls show more interest in it than in COVID, or inflation, or Ukraine.

Normally, I do not follow celebrity gossip. I believe celebrities have the same right to privacy as the rest of us. Gossip is gossip.

But this is different; this has overwhelming redeeming social importance. Amber Heard is a textbook narcissist, as all true narcissists are textbook narcissists, almost interchangeable in their behaviour. I have hopes that now, for the first time, the general public will have clear idea of what a narcissist is like. And it looks like a large majority of the public gets it now, as they see it unfold on the stand.

 We may be past nonsense notions like calling Donald Trump a narcissist. Narcissism is not mere self-confidence.

We will perhaps also be past the destructive and madly prejudiced notion that only men abuse, or that we should “believe all women.”

We see that Heard has no morals whatsoever. There are, it seems to me, no degrees of narcissism, or, to use its proper name, viciousness. That is a switch set either on or off. You can’t get worse than no morals.  If an individual turns the switch, which they do willfully, there is nothing any longer to appeal to in them; there is no spark left of humanity.

This is why there must be a hell.