Verdict: Johnny Depp wins defamation case against Amber Heard
FAIRFAX, Va. — Johnny Depp won his bombshell defamation lawsuit against Amber Heard on Wednesday, with a Virginia jury awarding him more than $10 million in finding that his ex-wife sullied his reputation and damaged his career with her claims of domestic abuse.
The seven Fairfax jurors ruled in Depp’s favor on all three of his claims related to a Washington Post op-ed Heard wrote about becoming a “public figure representing domestic abuse” following the couple’s split.
The verdict, coming after some 13 hours of deliberations, capped a six-week trial filled with allegations of abuse on both sides, sensational claims and gory details — including about a fight that ended with Depp losing part of his finger and accusations Heard or her friends defecated in the couple’s bed.
As the panel’s decision was read, Heard looked somber and gazed down, wearing a black dress and a gold necklace.
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” she 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.”
Still, in what might come as cold comfort to the “Aquaman” star, the jury found that Heard was defamed by one of Depp’s lawyers, who accused her of plotting an elaborate hoax. She was awarded $2 million in damages as part of her countersuit.
Meanwhile, jurors awarded the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. But because Virginia law caps punitive damages at $350,000, Depp could stand to receive a total $10.35 million if the damages aren’t reduced on appeal.
Follow The Post’s live coverage of the Johnny Depp-Amber Heard defamation trial
The actor, who was in the UK when the verdict came down, said in a statement: “The jury gave me my life back.”
“I hope that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up,” he said.
Depp, 58, had sued Heard, 36, for $50 million over her 2018 essay in which she wrote about facing “our culture’s wrath” for speaking out against a powerful man — a warning that seemingly became more prescient with the jury’s decision.
The article never mentioned him by name, but his lawyers argued that it defamed him nonetheless because it was a clear reference to Heard’s allegations of abuse at the time of their 2016 divorce.
Heard said the verdict will ultimately hurt other women.
“It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated,” she said. “It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.
“I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly.”
In weighing Heard’s $100 million counterclaim against Depp, the jury considered three statements by the actor’s lawyer Adam Waldman, who called her allegations a hoax.
They found that Waldman defamed her when he claimed that Heard and her pals “spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight” when the police responded to a domestic disturbance call at the couple’s apartment in 2016.
Heard filed for a temporary restraining order against the actor following that May 2016 incident, after less than two years of marriage, as she petitioned a Los Angeles court for a divorce.
Depp then sued The Sun in the UK two years later over an article that called him a “wife beater,” but lost that case in 2020 after the court found the claim to be “substantially true.”
Over the course of the Virginia trial, the actor’s lawyers went to lengths to prove that Depp — not Heard — was the victim of domestic abuse.
Depp’s team also called a slew of witnesses to discuss the reputational damage he suffered as a result of Heard’s essay, including one who said the actor was “canceled” and no longer desirable to family-friendly companies like Disney.
Early in his testimony, Depp had told the jury he brought the lawsuit against the actress for defamation to “clear my name.”
“My goal is the truth,” he said on April 19. “One day you’re Cinderella and then in zero point six seconds you’re Quasimodo. I didn’t deserve that and neither did my children.”
Heard, meanwhile, recounted harrowing moments in which the widely-beloved star allegedly attacked her, including once sexually assaulting her with a liquor bottle.
Her team produced scores of photos of the actress’ bruises and injuries from alleged fights with Depp.
But he repeatedly denied the accusations and his team claimed the bruises were faked, painted on and digitally manipulated.
“Never did I myself reach the point of striking Ms. Heard in any way nor have I ever struck any woman in my life,” he insisted.
The trial was chock full of celebrity name-drops — with an early witness list including Tesla billionaire Elon Musk and actor James Franco. Neither man wound up testifying.
Notably, the jury Heard from two of Depp’s famous exes, Ellen Barkin and Kate Moss.
Barkin was called by Heard’s team and testified that Depp was a “jealous” man who drank all the time and once hurled a wine bottle in her direction.
Moss, meanwhile, testified on Depp’s behalf via video from England, telling the jury: “He never pushed me, kicked me, or threw me down any stairs.”
Still, the trial highlighted Depp’s dark side, particularly in text messages he sent about Heard.
“Hopefully that c—t’s rotting corpse is decomposing in the f–ing trunk of a honda civic,” he wrote in 2016.
In one foreboding text, Depp said Heard was “begging for total global humiliation,” adding, “She’s gonna get it.”
Each day of the trial, hoards of his fans packed the courtroom gallery, and the seats became so in demand people lined up at 1 a.m. to get a chance to see Depp in the flesh.
Devotees flew from around the world, telling The Post they were spending tens of thousands of dollars to support the man they believed to be innocent.
On the stand, Heard detailed vicious harassment by Depp’s fans, saying people were threatening to kill her and put her baby daughter “in the microwave.”
“Johnny … promised me that if I ever left him, he’d make me think of him every single day that I live,” she said while looking at the jury.
“Now in front of cameras in this room,” she said, “every single day I have to relive the trauma.”
A source close to Heard said she planned to appeal the decision, though her attorneys have not made any public statements to that effect.
What’s next for Depp is unclear, but the verdict is widely seen as vindication for him, possibly paving a way for a return to the big screen.
“From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome,” Depp said in his statement. “Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that.”
