US jury sides with Johnny Depp in libel case; Heard ‘heartbroken'
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Loading... - Lydia Landry
- 02 Jun 2022
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A jury in the United States has awarded Johnny Depp more than $10m in the lawsuit he brought against ex-wife Amber Heard for defamation over a column she wrote for the Washington Post newspaper.
The jury on Wednesday also partially ruled in favour of Heard, who said she was defamed by Depp’s lawyer when he called her allegations of domestic abuse a hoax, and awarded her $2m in damages.
The verdicts brought an end to a televised trial that Depp hoped would help restore his reputation. Throughout the trial, fans — overwhelmingly on Depp’s side — lined up overnight for coveted courtroom seats. Spectators who could not get in gathered on the street to cheer Depp and jeer Heard whenever they appeared outside.
Heard said she was heartbroken by the verdict.
“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It’s a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously,’’ she said in a statement posted on her Twitter account.
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Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court over the December 2018 op-ed in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”. His lawyers said he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.
While the case was ostensibly about libel, most of the testimony focused on whether Heard had been physically and sexually abused, as she claimed.
Heard detailed more than a dozen alleged assaults, including a fight in Australia — where Depp was shooting a Pirates of the Caribbean sequel — in which Depp lost the tip of his middle finger and Heard said she was sexually assaulted with a bottle.
Depp said he never hit Heard and that she was the abuser, although Heard’s lawyers highlighted years-old text messages Depp sent apologising to Heard for his behaviour, as well as profane texts he sent to a friend in which Depp said he wanted to kill Heard and defile her dead body. Read More…
