Amber Heard Switches Crisis Management Firms Before Taking the Stand in Johnny Depp Trial
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Amber Heard has switched to a new crisis management firm amid her ongoing defamation trial with Johnny Depp.
PEOPLE confirms that Heard, 36, has parted ways with Precision Strategies — an organization based on the East Coast, where the Aquaman actress is currently facing Depp, 58, in court.
According to NBC News, Heard has newly enlisted the services of The Management Group, a company based in Beverly Hills, California.
The switch comes after Depp took the stand in Fairfax, Virginia, over several days to share his version of events. Heard has yet to testify and is expected to do so this week,
Reps for Heard, Precision Strategies and The Management Group did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's requests for comment.
For more on the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial, listen below to our daily podcast PEOPLE Every Day.
A crisis communications expert tells PEOPLE, "Depp's team has been on national television and in the court making his case for weeks. Obviously that's going to result in some coverage that I'm sure Amber Heard hasn't liked — but that's just the reality of a situation where the plaintiff gets to go first. To get through crisis situations like these you have to have thick skin, which it seems she does not have by making this change at a very bizarre time when she instead should be going on the offense."
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STEVE HELBER/POOL/AFP via Getty; EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Johnny Depp; Amber Heard
Depp is suing Heard for defamation over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in which she opened up about surviving domestic violence, though she did not mention him by name in the article.
The pair met while making the 2011 movie The Rum Diary and later wed in 2015. They broke up in May 2016 when Heard sought a domestic violence restraining order against him, accusing him of abusing her. Depp denied the claims, and they settled their divorce out of court in August 2016.
MICHAEL REYNOLDS/POOL/AFP/Getty Amber Heard
Depp has testified that his "goal is the truth" as he seeks to clear his name in the trial, which is being televised live via various outlets. Ahead of the trial, Heard said in a statement that "hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny. I have always maintained a love for Johnny and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the world."
During opening statements, Heard's attorney Ben Rottenborn said evidence will show she suffered domestic abuse by Depp that "took many forms," including physical, emotional, verbal and psychological, as well as "sexual violence at the hands of Depp." A spokesperson for Depp denies the allegation as "fictitious."
RELATED VIDEO: Court Proceedings Continues in Johnny Depp's Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard
Rottenborn told the courtroom, "Amber did suffer sexual violence at the hands of Depp. ... You will hear in the most graphic and horrifying terms about the violence that she suffered. You'll hear that straight from her. She will get on the stand and she will tell you that. It happened."
Concluding his testimony earlier this week, Depp — who has said multiple times under oath that he has never struck Heard or any woman — said that, after Heard's allegations against him, he lost "nothing short of everything."
Back in November 2020, Depp lost his highly publicized U.K. libel lawsuit case against British tabloid The Sun for calling him a "wife-beater." The court upheld the outlet's claims as being "substantially true" and Heard testified to back up the claims. In March 2021, his attempt to overturn the decision was overruled.
