Amber Heard has released a statement following the ruling in the defamation case with her ex-husband Johnny Depp. On Wednesday, a jury in Virginia found that while both Heard and Depp were liable for defamation in their lawsuits against one another, Heard did defame Depp in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed. The jury awarded Depp a total of $15 million in damages while Heard was awarded $2 million in damages. In her statement, which was released on social media following the verdict, Heard expressed that she is “heartbroken” with the verdict’s findings and while she is sad to have lost the case, she’s sadder for “what this verdict means for other women.”
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“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,” Heard wrote. “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.”
“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,” she continued. “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.”
Depp and Heard have been locked in legal battles for several years following their divorce in 2016. In November 2020, Depp lost a highly publicized U.K libel suit against British tabloid The Sun which called the actor a “wife-beater”. The court sided with the tabloid, finding the claims to be “substantially true”. As for the current defamation case, the case stems from a 2018 op-ed Heard wrote for The Washington Post in which she wrote about being the victim of domestic and sexual violence and particularly how speaking out about the abuse negatively impact4ed her career. Heard did not name Depp in the op-ed. Depp, sued Heard for $50 million in the suit, alleging that the op-ed led him to lose film roles and other opportunities. Depp has denied the accusations that he abused Heard and insists instead that she is the abuser. Heard countersued for $100 million claiming that Depp’s attorney had defamed her by calling her abuse allegations a hoax.
