Amber Heard Releases Statement After Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Trial
Topics: Amber Heard, Johnny Depp, US News, Celebrity
Emily Brown
Featured Image Credit: Law & Crime/Alamy
Topics: Amber Heard, Johnny Depp, US News, Celebrity
Amber Heard has released a statement after losing her defamation case against Johnny Depp.
The jury announced a verdict in favour of the Pirates of the Caribbean actor today (1 June), following weeks of deliberation after he accused Heard of defaming him in a 2018 op-ed.
Heard in turn counter-sued Depp for denying the allegations of abuse she had made against him, but she lost the case when it went to trial.
— Amber Heard (@realamberheard) June 1, 2022
In a statement released in the wake of the verdict, Heard said the disappointment she feels is 'beyond words'.
"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," she continued.
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Heard went on to say she is 'even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women', describing the verdict as a 'setback'.
It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously," she wrote.
"I believe Johnny's attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK. 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," Heard concluded.
Depp sued Heard for $50 million, with his team arguing her article published in The Washington Post was an example of 'defamation by implications' because it came following their break-up in 2016.
The actor was ultimately awarded $15m by the court, made up of $10m compensatory damages and a further $5m in punitive damages.
The verdict was given after approximately 13 hours of deliberation from the seven-person jury, which broke to begin discussing their verdict on Friday. The jury was given 42 questions to answer before making their verdict, including 24 relating to Depp’s case against Heard and 18 about Heard’s case against Depp
As the legal teams delivered their closing arguments last week, Depp's legal team asked the jury to 'give Mr Depp his life back' and to 'free him from the prison in which he has lived for the last six years'.
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