When it comes to long and turbulent legal battles between celebrities, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are two of the first people who come to mind. However, these days, the conflict between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni has taken over the headlines. Now, experts are weighing in about the parallels between these two cases, and the potential consequences that could crop up if the Gossip Girl actress brings Depp and Heard’s legal battle into her case.
For context, last month, a claim was made by Lively's camp that Baldoni’s team hired a crisis PR strategist who had been connected to Depp’s legal battle. The argument they’re trying to make is that this shows “intent, not guilt by association,” per Fox News. Meanwhile, Baldoni's team called out this comparison, saying it was a distraction.
Overall, the consensus among the experts who spoke to the outlet centers around the notion of how fast narratives can be flipped. Speaking specifically about the “court of public opinion,” branding expert Doug Eldridge explained that Lively’s initial complaint and early moves were quickly “undercut” by Baldoni’s response and subsequent moves. Speaking about the impact of all this, he said:
For context, Lively was the first to go on the offensive with the splashy (and inflammatory) feature in The New York Times. Baldoni’s subsequent response not only undercut Lively’s intended ‘emotional high ground’ but began to systematically undercut her position and claims, as well as her character (and Q score) on a personal level. For the last 18 months, we have seen a ‘clutch and accelerator’ transition between the gears of comparative power: Lively might have been the first mover, but Baldoni has unquestionably overtaken her would-be supremacy in the proverbial court of public opinion.
This is what led Eldridge to the potential impact of comparing Lively and Baldoni’s case to Depp and Heard’s. According to him, making that highly publicized legal battle a reference point could be detrimental to the A Simple Favor actress:
If Depp-Heard is a reference point, this might not end up as Lively intended, when she set these wheels in motion. Extraordinary accusations require extraordinary proof – not your feelings, but the immutable set of facts you can prove to a reasonable standard.
To contextualize this conversation with where the It Ends With Us battle is right now, it comes after Judge Lewis J. Liman threw out the majority of Livley’s claims. Now, the focus of the case is on the retaliation and breach of contract claims.
Now, with the trial set for this month, entertainment attorney Jordan Matthews explained why the actress potentially connecting herself to Amber Heard could be damaging:
Blake Lively's new legal strategy, intentionally linking herself to Amber Heard, is a huge risk, and she could be effectively cutting off her nose to spite her face. It is absolutely true that digital smear campaigns exist, and they are often used to discredit parties and witnesses, especially those who lack power and resources, which is clearly not the case for Blake Lively.
He went on to say that Heard’s loss to Depp was “devastating, not only financially, but also in terms of her career and public image.” Matthews also explained that generally, narratives like this don’t just shape what is said online, it can also impact a jury’s perception.
Another entertainment attorney, Trey Lovell, agreed that drawing parallels between Lively and Heard would not be useful. Explaining why there’s “no benefit” in this, the lawyer said:
Lively’s team derives no benefit from those comparisons. Heard’s team had so effectively painted Depp as an abusive degenerate that he was removed from the nine-figure Pirates franchise and was unofficially blackballed, in Hollywood. When they finally got to court, her claims fell apart … That’s the last thing I’d want to frame in the minds of the general public: this is Amber Heard 2.0.
Meanwhile, crisis and reputation management expert Dave Quast said that a Depp-Heard comparison here would only be useful if it’s used “as context, not as a direct analogy.” He noted that that’s because the older case provides a “familiar frame for understanding how a celebrity dispute can become a viral referendum on a woman’s credibility, likability and motives.”
Now, as we get closer to the trial date, we’ll have to wait and see if Amber Heard and Johnny Depp are brought up in the legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni.
