damn. I teared up reading this. I, too, love Johnny Depp even in his worst movies. I, too, have suffered abuse and witnessed behavior in myself that I regret. And when I see Depp acting glib while the Internet eviscerates Amber Heard, I'm reminded of the people who diminished my harm at the hands of my abuser. The people who looked for his humanity, trying to find a reason rather than just fucking saying, "God, he tortured you and I do not accept that."

You are completely right: we are so misogynistic that we hate women while clinging to any shred of decency in badly behaving men. Look how people called Kesha a harpy, a gold-digger. How they mocked Britney and Whitney. How they slandered Taylor Swift for dating older men while thinking it's charming that all these A-lister dudes are dating women half their age. There's no forgiveness. None.

Depp could literally come out and say that Heard never abused him and this was all a huge mistake, and his fans (not me) would still despise Heard and call for her head.

It's deeply upsetting to see the vitriol...because now I understand the hateful looks I received. To the people who loved my abuser, it didn't matter that he hurt me. It only mattered that someone spoiled his reputation, had police come to his house, made him seem less than perfect. They don't care about facts — only that this poor troubled man had let his anger get the best of him. Fuck me and all his other victims.

Thank you for writing this.