SOLVED with Mark Manson

Podbit · SOLVED with Mark Manson

Why We Stay in Bad Relationships, Solved

Explore episode May 20, 2026
Society & Culture
How to Actually Fight the 7 Traps: Practical Takeaways

Why We Stay in Bad Relationships, Solved · May 20, 2026 Society & Culture

Awareness is the first weapon: reading about relationship dynamics can rewire schemas that were set in dysfunctional childhoods. Maintaining your independent identity inside a relationship is the single best protection against the identity trap. And for the sunk cost fallacy — practice it in low-stakes situations first. Stop the movie. Go home from the concert. Quit the bad book. Build the muscle before you need it.

Where this was said

The Johnny Depp–Amber Heard Trial: Nobody Won

At 1:27:25 · chapter starts 1:24:00

Manson wraps up the case study with the legal aftermath. In 2016, following an alleged phone-throwing incident that left Heard with facial bruising, she filed for divorce. Two years later, her Washington Post MeToo op-ed — carefully worded to not name Depp but unmistakably referencing him — cost him major film roles, including a part in a Harry Potter spinoff that became the subject of a boycott campaign. Depp sued for defamation; Heard countersued. When the recordings, depositions, and turd photographs finally went public in court, the spectacle became a defining cultural moment of the early 2020s. The verdict was remarkable in its symmetry: the court awarded damages to both parties, essentially ruling that they were both right, both terrible, and both deserved to be compensated. By the end, Depp had reportedly spent $650 million over the course of the relationship and its legal aftermath, leaving both of them broke and both careers in ruins. 'Nobody won' is Drew's understated verdict — and Manson adds that even the public didn't win from the spectacle.

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