Amber Heard’s friend kicked out of courtroom during Johnny Depp trial

Amber Heard’s friend kicked out of the courtroom during Johnny Depp trial

Amber Heard's close friend, British music journalist Eve Barlow, was abruptly dismissed from the high-profile Johnny Depp trial. Barlow – the former deputy editor of the music bible NME and a New York Magazine contributor – got into hot water with the judge by texting and tweeting from the front row of the courtroom, which is usually reserved for legal counsel, according to sources who attended the $50 million defamation trial on Thursday.

According to reports, Barlow, who has been virtually inseparable from Heard for the past year, has acted as part of the actress' legal team and even attempted to intervene in the trial over Depp-friendly witness Gina Deuters. According to court insiders, Barlow attempted to help Heard by requesting that her legal team convince Judge Penney S. Azcarate that Deuters' credibility as a witness had been questioned.

According to sources, Barlow allegedly brought up a Deuters social media post, stating it was from the present trial. The post in question, it turns out, was shared in 2021 during Depp's previous trial in London against The Sun newspaper. Deuters, who is the wife of Stephen Deuters, Depp's longtime employee and partner, revealed on Thursday that she had seen a video of the trial online before giving testimony. Her testimony was thrown out of the record and she was escorted out of the courtroom.

Depp's lawyers retaliated by filing a motion to have Barlow barred from the courtroom indefinitely, which the judge granted. “Amber had her closest journalist friend sit front and center – with her legal team – at the trial, live-tweeting, texting, and posting information,” a source told us. “Eve Barlow seems to think she’s part of Amber’s legal team. Depp’s lawyers finally had enough and had her barred from the courtroom.”

Judge Azcarate reportedly took issue with Barlow's texting and tweeting, saying, “She was tweeting live from my courtroom … and I know the deputies took her out because she was texting. That’s against the court order. Ms. Barlow is not coming back into the courtroom during this trial.”

Depp, who was married to Heard from 2015 to 2017, believes that his ex-wife made up abuse allegations in order to get a large divorce payment, which has hurt his career. Only four days after the op-ed was published, Disney fired Depp from his major role as Captain Jack Sparrow in the multibillion-dollar "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise. Meanwhile, Heard is sure that she told the truth and has filed a $100 million countersuit against Depp.