Amber Heard: America’s Martyr
Depp made his bed, now she must shit in it.
By Benjamin Chrollin | June, 2022
After a brief sabbatical due to the looming worldly stressors such as Russia invading Ukraine, the Nazis in the Supreme Court repealing Roe v. Wade, and fellow Americans STILL not taking COVID precautions in 2022, I have returned to something much more pressing than any effortless Hollywood entry; women’s rights.
Sherri and I have sat down over coffee to reconnect for which we worked through our issues at home (and in bed) and she assured me, Usuf is doing everything in his power to keep our family together and for that, I am dearly grateful. After weeks of isolation in my hotel room, I realized that Johnny Depp and I have much in common. We are both inherently abusive in that we control those closest to us, even if it’s at the detriment of our own loved ones.
Johnny and I both injected our insecurities and toxic masculinity into our marriages which drove our wives into the comfort of other men. Elon Musk, James Franco, and my very own Usuf both filled the void we left our significant others to bare. The anger and frustration I felt upon seeing Usuf and Sherri together was nothing more than the by product of my own pig-headed behavior.
Many people online today are quick to label women such as Sherri and Amber Heard as adulterers for seeking company with other men. That is the very definition of misogyny.
Sherri felt so strained in our marriage after I shoved her to the wayside that she would naturally seek, not another man’s penis, but his company. For that, I am deeply disappointed in myself and am now so appreciative of Usuf holding our family together once more. Watching Depp froth from in hate and vitriol served as a reset for me of sorts. There is zero evidence to support the theory of Amber Heard cheated with Elon Musk or James Franco nor did I have any for Sherri.
We have been married many, many years and yet I shamefully felt brazen enough to outright accuse her of cheating with Usuf for which she was (rightfully) angered and oh so disappointed. Unbeknownst to me, our dear Usuf was nearby and heard my baseless slander and was appalled. My mind was clouded in anger and testosterone until a glimmer of reason shone through my dark clouds as she reminded me of my extensive history of narcotics abuse.
I shy away from this shameful period of my life, yet as a survivor I have struggled with not only narcotics but also alcohol through my early adulthood. I used to go on week-long “benders” on Trazodone and stay in a near-comatose state every night. When we first started dating, Sherri used to tell me how she hated the way I slept when I was on the stuff. How I was aloof throughout the night and it was distracting for her. Though it was prescribed medication, I took it at the detriment of my marriage.
Inevitably, I then turned to harsher drugs – such as marijuana – for which it quickly became an addiction. I used to crave it as a replacement and such, I was left a slumping disappointment to my wife. I was – and am still – an addict.
Along with marijuana, I would also binge hard alcohol as an out to flee from my problems and as a means to cope with my marijuana addiction. Mike’s Hard Lemonade became my security blanket of sorts and there was nothing I could do to remove it as the Boogie Man that is Life crept under my bed.
I abandoned everything in my life; my career, my family, my films (not Hollywood of course) but most of all, my pride.
I remember seeing how stoic Amber Heard sat at the bench, chin up, shoulders back as Depp’s racist lawyer took every chance he got to mention “#amberturd”. She was unfazed by his childish tactics and stared directly at the juror’s eyes as they knew – along with me – where we are as a society.
But that immutable strength can only last so long. As strong as Amber Heard is, I cannot help but to feel so sorry for the swirling hell that is revolving around her now for Nazis are attempting to make Amber Heard into Amber Silenced.
She and many other strong women do not deserve this draconian societal stoning that she is being subjected to. Neither does Sherri. Freedom of speech isn’t when transphobes march through the streets, it’s when women can express themselves to others when they can’t do the same with their partners, even if those people are other men.
Masculinity isn’t the ability to change a tire, work >40-hour work weeks or ogle women from across a bar. Masculinity is when you are secure enough with yourself and your relationship that no other man involved in your wife’s life can even come close to the security you can provide her. Just because a woman seeks another man’s company does not mean she is cheating nor does that mean it’s sexual in the least.
My dear Sherri (Lord knows she will hate being put on a pedestal by me saying this) frequently went out to dinner and movies as I was slumped in a drunken and stoned stupor from the excessive Mike’s and marijuana. I’d often find her canoodling with Usuf in his bed and felt this simmering anger and hatred knowing that was supposed to be me. But, I made my choices and she acted in kind. She didn’t seek another man’s company, I pushed her into his arms. Drugs and/or hard alcohol or not, it was my fault and I recognize that now.
Women of all varieties, ovaries or testes, cis or astral-gendered ALL have needs that men typically don’t – needs of compassion and feelings of acceptance. The time is now that we men, with ovaries or testes, must now make concerted efforts to guarantee another Amber Heard virtual lynch mob does not happen again. Roe v. Wade being repealed is just the cherry on top of a sundae made from unbridled misogyny, racism, and bigotry that society has whole-heartedly embraced. I shudder knowing that I played into it, all the while at Sherri’s, our children’s, and Usuf’s expense.
We men, both ovaries and/or testes included, must do better as to paint a better future for our daughters.
Amber Turd – Actor Review Score
