Remember Johnny Depp-Amber Heard's viral pic at Raffles Hotel? Mystery photographer was an intern!
India Today
A photo of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard at Raffles Hotel was shown as evidence in the court. It has now surfaced that the photographer was just an intern.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard's defamation trial has gone for jury deliberation. While we await the results, several unknown facts from the case is now coming out in the open. There was a moment in the courtroom last week involving a photo of the ex-couple taken in the Lion City. The photo, said to be taken at Raffles Hotel in 2015, appeared to show discolouration beneath Depp's eye. The actor's lawyers countered Amber Heard's claim that an earlier picture showing Depp with bruises on his face had been "photoshopped". Well, the photographer behind this has now revealed her identity. She was simply an intern when she took this photo.
For the uninitiated, Johnny Depp sued Amber Heard for defamation regarding an op-ed, which was published in the Washington Post in 2018. His legal team has claimed a $50 million compensation payment for the damages caused by the opinion piece. Meanwhile, the photographer behind the snapshot of the ex-couple at Raffles Hotel in 2015 has been found. This happened shortly after local photographer Russel Wong clarified that he did not take the picture as he shared it on his Instagram account. The real photographer — who uses the Instagram handle Ibikeshootfly — left a comment on his post. "Hi Russel, I took this shot back in 2015 and I also have the original photo in full colour (sic)," she wrote, adding that a friend had alerted her about the photo going viral on the internet.
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Ibikeshootfly, whose real name is Tan Li Tong, also posted a series of Instagram stories stating that she took the photo while she was an intern at Raffles Hotel back in 2015. "So apparently this post is being used in court as evidence? Who would have thought a photo taken by lil old me (sic)," she wrote.
Sharing the photo on his Instagram account, Russel Wong had written a long note saying, "This photo that was shown as evidence in the trial was NOT taken by me as assumed by many. If you noticed , the lawyers never mentioned who shot it and neither did I throughout the trial. I always referred to it as ‘ my post ‘ and NOT ‘ my photo ‘. When Amber Heard accused Johnny Depp of photoshopping a bruise on the E&O train shot to Singapore.. it triggered me to try and obtain this photo which I remembered hanging at the Raffles Hotel where they had their honeymoon (sic)."
He added, "I searched on the net that evening and found many blogs that featured it and noticed that same bruise on his face as the train shot. I then shared it on my Instagram in the late evening, wrote ‘Happy Honeymoon’ as a tongue in cheek comment. I just wanted to set the record straight not expecting anything. In an hour, I was contacted by Johnny’s lawyers and team and that’s how it happened! Seeing my post on TV and hearing Johnny Depp read the text I wrote is still very surreal to me. I still have not found out who shot it and hope we find out one day. THANKS to everyone who have been so supportive of this post as I just wanted to do the right thing. Thanks to the person who saw my post and notified JD, you know who you are! Being silent is being complicit. #johnnydeppvsamberheard #justiceforjohnnydepp #notphotoshopped (sic)."
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