JOHNNY DEPP-AMBER HEARD. Amber Heard has been ordered to pay Johnny Depp $15 million in the lawsuit against her ex-husband in Fairfax. She plans to appeal.
[Mis à jour le 2 juin 2022 à 17h55] The trial verdict Johnny Depp-Amber Heard fell this Wednesday, June 1st. The actress ofAquaman was ordered to pay her ex-husband $15 million for defamation with malicious intent. This is the decision of the jury, which was then reduced to 10.35 million dollars by the judge, in view of compliance with the maximum limits imposed in the state of Virginia on punitive damages. Her spokesperson announced that Amber Heard was preparing to appeal. However, she must be able to prove that there were errors made during the trial or judgment. The lawyer, Maître Bredehoft, affirms that the actress has “every reason to do so”. Amber Heard was therefore found guilty by the jury, but this is also the case of Johnny Depp who, for his part, was sentenced to pay her $ 2 million following comments by his former lawyer who affirmed that the charges of Heard were simply “a set-up”.
Amber Heard’s lawyer confirmed in the columns of Variety that her client was “absolutely” going to appeal. “She was totally demonized, described Elaine Bredehoft. Several elements were authorized during this trial which should not have been, and this disturbed the jury. We had not had the right to speak to them about the judgment returned to England”. Johnny Depp had lost his lawsuit against the Sun, which had called him a “violent husband” in its columns.
On leaving the court in Fairfax, near Washington, Amber Heard confided her “inexpressible disappointment” and said she was “devastated by the fact that the mountain of evidence was not sufficient to face the power, the much greater influence and ascendancy of my ex-husband” on his Instagram account: “I am even more disappointed by what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It calls into question the idea that violence against women should be taken seriously,” she said.
It should also be remembered that Amber Heard had won the trial against Johnny Depp in 2020 in London, since the judge had ruled that there had been no defamation when the actor had been called a “violent husband” in the columns of the Sun.
Johnny Depp’s reaction
For his part, Johnny Depp posted a message on Instagram during the verdict. He walked back on ‘very serious criminal charges ‘which changed'[sa] life, that of [ses]children, those of [ses] relatives and [ses] fans”. “After six years [d’accusations]the jury gave me back my life”, can we read in this message. “I now feel at peace to have succeeded [à révéler la vérité] on this case. I am overwhelmed with gratitude for the unconditional love and overwhelming support that has come to me from all over the world. I hope that my search for the truth has helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation.”
However, Amber Heard has not lost everything. Johnny Depp will have to pay him two million dollars, after the jury found that the statements of Johnny Depp’s lawyer against him were also defamatory. Indeed, the jurors found that the statements of lawyer Adam Waldman in the Daily Mail in 2020 were defamatory. He then claimed that the accusations made by Amber Heard were a “set up”.
Why Johnny Depp and Amber Heard clashed in court?
The second trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard was held in Fairfax (United States) from April 11, 2022 to June 1, 2022. The actor of “Pirates of the Caribbean” had filed a defamation complaint against his former wife after a tribune published in the Washington Post in 2018. In this text, the actress ofAquaman claimed to be a victim of domestic violence. However, she never mentioned Johnny Depp’s name in this article. Amber Heard then counter-attacked by filing a complaint in turn against her ex-husband.
Johnny Depp met Amber Heard on the set of the film Rhum Express, released in 2011. The couple married in 2015, before separating in 2016. The actress seen in Aquaman then accused her of domestic violence, which Johnny Depp denied , claiming to have received blows from his ex-wife. An agreement is finally reached and Amber Heard withdraws her complaint for domestic violence, for 7 million dollars.
A first Johnny Depp-Amber Heard trial in 2020 in London
In July 2020, a defamation lawsuit pitted the actor against the Sun, which had called the actor a “violent husband”. On November 2, 2020, Johnny Depp lost his lawsuit against the Sun and appealed for judgment. After collecting testimony from the actress and relatives of both parties, Judge Nicol ruled that the words and qualifications used by the Sun in their article were “substantially true”.