A Virginia jury on Wednesday ruled that actor Amber Heard defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp in an opinion piece she wrote for the Washington Post. The verdict was delivered Thursday in the widely watched six-week trial that featured explicit and graphic evidence and testimony detailing the former Hollywood couple’s soured relationship.
The jury also ruled in favor of Heard in some aspects of her counter-suit against Depp.
The jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages from Heard. The panel awarded Heard $2 million in damages.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star had sued Heard for $50 million and argued that she defamed him when she called herself “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in a newspaper opinion piece.
Heard, countersued for $100 million, saying Depp smeared her when his lawyer called her accusations a “hoax.”
Depp has denied hitting Heard or any woman and rather claimed that she was the one who turned violent in their relationship.
During the six weeks of testimony, Heard’s attorneys argued that she had told the truth and that her comments were covered as free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.
Throughout the proceedings, jurors listened to recordings of the couple’s fights and saw graphic photos of Depp’s bloody finger. He said the top of the finger was severed when Heard threw a vodka bottle at him in 2015.
The lawyers for Heard counterattacked saying Depp sexually assaulted her that night with a liquor bottle. She said she struck him only to defend herself and her sister.
Depp said the allegation led to a new “Pirates” movie being put on hold and Depp was replaced in the “Fantastic Beasts” film franchise, a “Harry Potter” spinoff.
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