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FAIRFAX, Va. — A jury on Wednesday awarded Johnny Depp $10.35 million in his libel lawsuit in opposition to ex-wife Amber Heard, vindicating his stance that Heard fabricated claims that she was abused by Depp earlier than and through their transient marriage.
The jury additionally present in favor of Heard, who mentioned she was defamed by Depp’s lawyer when he referred to as her abuse allegations a hoax. The jury awarded her $2 million in damages.
The verdicts convey an finish to a televised trial that Depp had hoped would assist restore his popularity, although it become a spectacle of a vicious marriage. physique. All through the trial, followers — overwhelmingly on Depp’s facet — lined up in a single day for coveted courtroom seats. Spectators who couldn’t get in gathered on the road to cheer Depp and jeer Heard each time both appeared exterior.
Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Courtroom over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Submit describing herself as “a public determine representing home abuse.” His legal professionals mentioned he was defamed by the article although it by no means talked about his identify.
Whereas the case was ostensibly about libel, a lot of the testimony targeted on whether or not Heard had been bodily and sexually abused, as she claimed. Heard enumerated greater than a dozen alleged assaults, together with a combat in Australia — the place Depp was taking pictures a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel — during which Depp misplaced the tip of his center finger and Heard mentioned she was sexually assaulted with a liquor bottle.
Depp mentioned he by no means hit Heard and that she was the abuser, although Heard’s attorneys highlighted years-old textual content messages Depp despatched apologizing to Heard for his conduct in addition to profane texts he despatched to a pal during which Depp mentioned he wished to kill Heard and defile her lifeless physique.
In some methods, the trial was a replay of a lawsuit Depp filed in the UK in opposition to a British tabloid after he was described as a “spouse beater.” The choose in that case dominated within the newspaper’s favor after discovering that Heard was telling the reality in her descriptions of abuse.
Within the Virginia case, Depp needed to show not solely that he by no means assaulted Heard, however that Heard’s article — which targeted totally on public coverage associated to home violence — defamed him. He additionally needed to show that Heard wrote the article with precise malice. And to assert damages he needed to show that her article precipitated the harm to his popularity versus any variety of articles earlier than and after Heard’s piece that detailed the allegations in opposition to him.
Depp, in his remaining testimony to the jury, mentioned the trial gave him an opportunity to clear his identify in a manner that the U.Okay trial by no means allowed.
“It doesn’t matter what occurs, I did get right here and I did inform the reality and I’ve spoken up for what I’ve been carrying on my again, reluctantly, for six years.” Depp mentioned.
Heard, however, mentioned the trial has been an ordeal inflicted by an orchestrated smear marketing campaign led by Depp.
“Johnny promised me — promised me — that he’d wreck my life, that he’d wreck my profession. He’d take my life from me,” Heard mentioned in her remaining testimony.
The case captivated tens of millions via its gavel-to-gavel tv protection and impassioned followers on social media who dissected the whole lot from the actors’ mannerisms to the attainable symbolism of what they have been sporting. Each performers emerge from the trial with reputations in tatters with unclear prospects for his or her careers.
Eric Rose, a disaster administration and communications skilled in Los Angeles, referred to as the trial a “traditional murder-suicide.”
“From a popularity administration perspective, there may be no winners,” he mentioned. “They’ve bloodied one another up. It turns into harder now for studios to rent both actor since you’re probably alienating a big section of your viewers who could not like the truth that you’ve retained both Johnny or Amber for a particular mission as a result of emotions are so robust now.”
Depp, a three-time finest actor Oscar nominee, had till current years been a bankable star. His flip as Capt. Jack Sparrow within the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movie helped flip it into a world franchise, however he’s misplaced that position. (Heard and Depp’s groups every blame the opposite.) He was additionally changed because the title character within the third “Unbelievable Beasts” spin-off movie, “The Crimes of Grindelwald.”
Regardless of testimony on the trial that he might be violent, abusive and uncontrolled, Depp obtained a standing ovation Tuesday night time in London after performing for about 40 minutes with Jeff Beck on the Royal Albert Corridor. He has beforehand toured with Joe Perry and Alice Cooper because the group Hollywood Vampires.
Heard’s appearing profession has been extra modest, and her solely two upcoming roles are in a small movie and the upcoming “Aquaman” sequel due out subsequent 12 months.
Depp’s legal professionals fought to maintain the case in Virginia, partially as a result of state legislation offered some authorized benefits in contrast with California, the place the 2 reside. A choose dominated that Virginia was a suitable discussion board for the case as a result of The Washington Submit’s printing presses and on-line servers are within the county.
Story by Denise Lavoie, Related Press
