Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Trial Against Amber Heard

The jury have finally reached a verdict on Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s multimillion-dollar defamation lawsuit.

The verdict has revealed that Depp has won his defamation lawsuit against Heard, with the jury finding that Heard did, in fact, defame him in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed.

The actor has been awarded $15 million in damages while Heard, despite losing her case, has been awarded $2 million by the jury.

Heard was in attendance as the verdict was read out, while Depp was said to have watched from the UK, were he has been performing alongside Jeff Beck on tour.

It all began when the Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued his ex-wife over the Washington Post article in question, titled: “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”

Although the article didn't mention Depp by name, his lawyers claim that it falsely implies he physically and sexually abused the Aquaman actress while they were together.

Alamy

Heard then counter-sued Depp over comments previously made by his lawyer Adam Waldman, who allegedly referred to her abuse claims as a 'hoax'.

The trial, which went on for six weeks since it began on 11 April, saw multiple witnesses take to the stand to testify, including the likes of Depp's ex-partner and British supermodel Kate Moss, who testified on his alleged violence.

Psychologists who commented on Heard's mental state also testified, as well as Depp's bodyguard, who testified on the actor's drug use.

Depp and Heard also testified themselves during the highly publicised and televised trial, with Heard saying of their divorce in 2016: "I knew if I didn't I'd likely not literally survive. I was so scared that it was going to end really badly for me and I really didn't want to leave him, I loved him so much.

"I would have done anything but I couldn't do that one thing, I couldn't stay."

She also accused her ex-husband of sexual assault, domestic violence and drug and alcohol abuse, before saying at the end of the trial: "I struggle to find the words to describe how painful this is… this is horrible for me to sit here for weeks and relive everything, to hear people that I knew, some well, some not, my ex-husband with whom I shared a life, speak about our lives in the way they have."

Alamy

Depp, on the other hand, insisted he was the one abused during the marriage, and not Heard.

"On 27 May, each side was given two hours to summarise their case before the trial was handed over the jury for their deliberation. Depp’s team went first, with lawyer Camille Vasquez saying it is now up to jurors to ‘hold Miss Heard accountable for her lies’. 

"What is at stake in this trial is a man's good name. Even more than that, what's at stake in this trial is a man's life," she said to the court.

"There is a victim of domestic violence in this courtroom, but it is not Miss Heard... You either believe all of it or none of it."

Heard's legal team were up next, in which they repeated that a verdict in Depp's favour would make jurors 'complicit' in his abuse and 'campaign of global humiliation'.

Elaine Bredehoft, Heard's lawyer, said: "They have said she has this whole hoax... but what would Amber Heard's motive be for creating a hoax or creating any of this or making any of this up?"

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