Actress Amber Heard is reportedly “broke” after lavish spending, and now mounting legal fees, following her stunning lawsuit loss to ex-husband actor Johnny Depp, who sued her for defamation.
Heard’s court battle with Depp has taken a blow to her net worth, and has left the Aquaman star hurting for cash, according to sources who spoke to New York Post, telling the outlet that the actress is now “broke.”
One source cited Heard’s previous lavish spending on things like travel, clothing, gifts, and wine.
Moreover, the actress’ own lead attorney Elaine Charlson Bredehoft echoed these sentiments in an interview with the Today Show on Thursday, revealing that Heard is “absolutely not” able to pay the roughly $8.35 million in damages to Depp.
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The actress is also reportedly relying on her homeowner’s insurance policy to cover the cost of attorney fees in the Depp v. Heard case.
While legal experts say using homeowner’s insurance policies is common in defamation cases, Virginia lawyer Jeremiah Denton told The Post that most policies have a clause that stipulates judgment costs will not be covered.
“The insurance company will keep in its back pocket the option of denying coverage at the end of the day,” Denton said. “Denying coverage means refusing to pay the plaintiff — in this case, Mr. Depp.”
“A lot of insurance policies provide coverage for defamation but they have an exclusion in, which says ‘We will not cover any intentional wrongdoing,'” Denton added.
On Wednesday, the jury found for Depp on all three of his defamation claims, awarding the Pirates of the Caribbean star $10 million in compensatory damages, and $5 million in punitive damages. The punitive damages, however, were reduced to $350,000 to comply with Virginia law that caps punitive damages at that amount.
The jury also found for Heard on one of her two claims, awarding her $2 million in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages. Therefore, the actress is speculated to owe Depp $8.35 million in damages.
Following Wednesday’s verdict, celebritynetworth.com changed Heard’s estimated net worth to negative $8 million, but on Friday, the site adjusted that amount to negative $6 million, explaining that “Prior to the verdict, we estimated that Amber’s net worth at $2.5 million.”
Experts told The Post that Depp could still potentially claim the money he was awarded by garnishing Heard’s wages from her two upcoming movies, levy her assets, and even seize her house in California, which has been valued at $1 million.
“[Depp] can institute collection proceedings so he can garnish [Heard’s] pay, if she has a salary or wage-type income,” Denton said. “He can attach her assets which basically means seize them. He can get to her assets, sell them and take cash.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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