Amber Heard reacted to the jury ruling in favor of actor Johnny Depp in his defamation trial against her, saying “I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American – to speak freely and openly.”
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband,” Amber Heard said in a statement.
“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously,” she continued.
The jury concluded that the Aquaman star made false statements about Johnny Depp with defamatory implication, and that the Pirates of the Caribbean star has proven “by clear and convincing evidence that Heard acted with actual malice.”
In Wednesday’s verdict, the jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages, and $5 million in punitive damages.
“I believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK,” Heard said. “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.”
The verdicts bring an end to a televised trial that Depp had hoped would help restore his reputation, though it turned into a spectacle of a vicious marriage. Fans — overwhelmingly on Depp’s side — lined up overnight to grab a seat in the courtroom. Spectators who couldn’t get in lined up on the street to cheer Depp and jeer Heard whenever either appeared outside.
A woman holds a sign in support of actor Johnny Depp outside the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, on June 1, 2022, after a verdict was reached in the Depp v. Heard defamation trial. (BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP via Getty Images)
Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” His lawyers said he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name.
While the case was ostensibly about libel, most of the testimony focused on whether Heard had been physically and sexually abused, as she claimed. Heard enumerated more than a dozen alleged assaults, including a fight in Australia — where Depp was shooting a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel — in which Depp lost the tip of his middle finger and Heard said she was sexually assaulted with a liquor bottle.
The associated Press contributed to this article.
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