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Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Case Against Ex-Wife Amber Heard

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 coupleโ€™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 โ€œPirates of the Caribbeanโ€ star had sued Heard for $50 million and argued that she defamed him when she called herself โ€œa public figure representing domestic abuseโ€ in a newspaper opinion piece.

Heard, countersued for $100 million, saying Depp smeared her when his lawyer called her accusations a โ€œhoax.โ€

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, Heardโ€™s attorneys argued that she had told the truth and that her comments were covered as free speech under the U.S. Constitutionโ€™s First Amendment.

Throughout the proceedings, jurors listened to recordings of the coupleโ€™s fights and saw graphic photos of Deppโ€™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 โ€œPiratesโ€ movie being put on hold and Depp was replaced in the โ€œFantastic Beastsโ€ film franchise, a โ€œHarry Potterโ€ spinoff.

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