The Johnny Depp V. Amber Heard Jury Ruled That He Proved Defamation And Awarded Him Several Million In Damages

After six weeks of testimony (which aired on Court TV for the masses) and days of deliberations, the U.S.-based Depp v. Heard trial has come to a verdict. This case, of course, follows the U.K-based counterpart that didn’t go well for Depp in 2020. He had sued for libel against The Sun, and that bid only led the court to shut down Depp’s team and rule that the tabloid’s “wife beater” term about the Pirates of the Caribbean star was “substantially true.”

The U.S. trial, revolving around Depp’s $50 million defamation claim and Heard’s $100 million counterclaim, turned into even more of a circus (despite its triggering subject matter of abuse) with tales of “human fecal matter” and stories of peeing in hallways plus harrowing testimony about death threats and strangeness about money demands. In the end, though, the jury of “peers” made the call, which turned out much better for Depp.

In a unanimous jury verdict, the relevant statement of Heard’s Washington Post online op-ed produced a “yes” for several questions, including the following: (1) Did Depp prove all the elements of defamation? (2) Was the statement made or published by Heard? (3) Was the statement about Depp? (4) Was Depp defamed? (5) Did Depp prove that the statement was made with clear and convincing malice?

Just FYI (and for comparison’s sake), Amber received $7 million from Johnny in her divorce settlement. On Wednesday, the jury declared that Depp’s entitled to $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, as revealed in this clip.

On Heard’s counterclaim, the jury awarded her $2 million in compensatory damages and $0 in punitive damages.

Amber released a statement via Twitter, where she described herself as “disappointed” and “heartbroken” over the verdict.

Following this verdict, the project will now go into documentary mode, so this story obviously isn’t over, but even though Johnny Depp technically won this trial, the biggest winner happens to be Court TV.

(Via Variety)