New Delhi

Hollywood stars Amber Heard and Johnny Depp will contest each other in court this week after Depp slapped a defamation case against his ex-wife for writing an op-ed. 

The trial opened with the jury on Monday and several celebrities are listed as potential witnesses. 

Depp sued Heard in 2019 for $50 million for an op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post alleging that she was a victim of domestic abuse.  The op-ed did not identify Depp directly in the piece, but wrote that she is "a public figure representing domestic abuse."

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The witness list in the case includes actors James Franco, Paul Bettany as well as billionaire Elon Musk.

Representatives from the ACLU, Los Angeles Police Department, Disney and Warner Bros. are also listed. Some witnesses are likely to appear remotely. 

Depp’s lawyers have earlier stated that the article falsely implies she was physically and sexually abused by Depp when the two were married.

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Depp previously filed a similar lawsuit in England against a tabloid that had called him a 'wife beater'. Depp had lost after the judge there determined that the actor indeed assaulted Heard on a dozen occasions and put her in fear for her life on multiple occasions.