Johnny Depp has won his multimillion-dollar US lawsuit against former wife Amber Heard after a Virginia jury ruled a 2018 article published in The Washington Post was defamatory. (Read More Here).
He was awarded $15m by the court – comprising $10m compensatory damages and a further $5m in punitive damages.
“From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome”, he said.
“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.”
Heard said she was “heartbroken” at the verdict and said it “sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated”.
She added: “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.”
Depp had sued Heard for $50m (£38.2m) over a first-person article published in The Washington Post in December 2018, in which she referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”.
Heard’s column did not mention Depp by name, but he argued it was an example of “defamation by implication” because parts of the column referred to allegations of abuse she made against him following their break-up in 2016.
Heard had issued a counterclaim for $100m (£76.4m) over statements calling her allegations a “hoax” made by her ex-husband’s attorney which were published in Mail Online stories in 2020.
The jury has awarded Johnny Depp $15m (£12m) in damages.
Amber Heard has also won part of her libel case against Johnny Depp over articles in the Daily Mail, in which Johnny Depp’s former lawyer described her claims of domestic abuse as a hoax.
The jury has awarded Amber Heard $2m in damages.
The seven-person jury deliberated for 12 hours after being sent out to consider their verdicts on Friday.
The verdict was met with screams outside the court and chants of “Johnny, Johnny, Johnny”.
Depp’s statement continues
“My decision to pursue this case, knowing very well the height of the legal hurdles that I would be facing and the inevitable, worldwide spectacle into my life, was only made after considerable thought.
“From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome.
“The best is yet to come and a new chapter has finally begun.
“Veritas numquam perit.
“Truth never perishes.”
