Johnny Depp wins defamation trial against Amber Heard
Johnny Depp is walking away from his defamation trial a vindicated man with a treasure chest of gold.
The contentious, dramatic and often graphic trial between the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor and ex-wife Amber Heard reached its grand finale Wednesday when a jury sided with Depp.
The seven-member jury found Heard libeled Depp in a 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post saying she was a survivor of abuse, even though she didn’t name Depp in the piece.
The jury said Depp should receive $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Judge Penney Azcarate lowered the verdict to $10.35 million because punitive damages are capped at $350,000 in Virginia.
Heard did earn a small victory. In her countersuit against Depp, she was awarded $2 million in damages, but it doesn’t alleviate her devastation at the jury siding with Depp on the bulk of the decision.
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” Heard said in a statement. “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband. I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback.”
Depp released a statement that read in part, “six years later, the jury gave my life back. I am truly humbled.”
The decision came after 3 p.m. at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Virginia after the jury’s third day of deliberations. The reading was delayed for nearly 20 minutes after the jurors initially failed to fill out the compensatory damages section of their special jury form.
Heard was present in court Wednesday and Depp was not. Depp performed at multiple concerts in the United Kingdom this week with musician Jeff Beck.
“Your presence shows where your priorities are,” a spokesperson for Heard said before the verdict reading. “Johnny Depp plays guitar in the U.K. while Amber Heard waits for a verdict in Virginia. Depp is taking his snickering and lack of seriousness on tour.”
Johnny Depp at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse on May 27. (Steve Helber/)
Heard sat somberly in the courtroom as the verdict was read. Outside, Depp supporters whooped it up as all the decisions came out in his favor.
Depp, 58, sued Heard, 36, for $50 million, claiming he was defamed by the op-ed in which Heard described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” Heard filed her $100 million counterclaim after an attorney for Depp described her abuse allegations as a hoax.
The six-week defamation trial began in April, with Depp contending during his initial testimony that he never struck Heard while accusing her of often becoming physically violent toward him.
He claimed to suffer a severed middle finger after Heard hurled a vodka bottle at him in Australia in 2015.
Heard testified in May that she never assaulted Depp and accused him of repeatedly abusing her, including claiming he sexually assaulted her using a liquor bottle in Australia. She claimed Depp suffered his finger injury by smashing a telephone, and later accused Depp of “lying” throughout the trial.
Both Depp and Heard returned to the witness stand during the trial’s final week. Depp claimed toward the end of his testimony that Heard’s allegations are “all false.”
Here are the key moments in the Johnny Depp, Amber Heard defamation trial
“It’s insane to hear heinous accusations of violence, sexual violence, that she’s attributed to me, that she’s accused me of,” Depp said on May 25.
Heard testified the next day, detailing how she’s suffered from the public attention surrounding the trial and saying she just wants Depp to “leave me alone.”
“I receive hundreds of death threats regularly, if not daily,” Heard said. “Thousands since this trial has started. People mocking my testimony about being assaulted. It’s been agonizing. Agonizing, painful and the most humiliating thing I’ve ever had to go through. I hope no one ever has to go through something like this.”
Amber Heard at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse on May 27. (Steve Helber/)
The trial’s final week also saw a brief testimony from supermodel Kate Moss, whom Depp dated during the 1990s. Depp’s lawyers called her to the stand after Heard referenced hearing a rumor that Depp once pushed Moss down a flight of stairs.
Moss said via video link that Depp “never pushed me, kicked me or threw me down any stairs,” and claimed the actor came to her aid after she fell down a flight of stairs on a rainy day in Jamaica.
Closing arguments took place Friday, with the jury deliberating for two hours that day before being sent home for the long Memorial Day weekend. They failed to reach a verdict after a full day of deliberations Tuesday, before settling on a decision early Wednesday afternoon.
The trial took place in Virginia because the Washington Post has servers there.
Heard and Depp met while making the 2011 movie “The Rum Diary” and married in 2015. Heard filed for divorce in May 2016 and was granted a temporary restraining order after accusing Depp of domestic abuse.
Depp previously lost a libel lawsuit against the publisher of British tabloid The Sun over an article that painted him as a “wife beater.” A High Court judge ruled in November 2020 that the claims were “substantially true,” and Depp was denied the chance to appeal the decision.
