Amber Heard Awarded $2 Million Even After Losing The Case Against Johnny Depp

Amber Heard has been awarded $2 million in damages in her countersuit against Johnny Depp. 

Depp and Heard have been a part of a six-week-long trial after Depp sued the actress for $50 million for accusing Depp of domestic abuse in an article in The Washington Post in 2018. Heard had countersued the actor for $100 million. 

Today, finally, on 1 June, the jurors gave the verdict in favor of Depp and awarded him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

Even though in the countersuit, the jury cleared Depp of two of the three defamation claims Heard had made, they found he had defamed Heard on one occasion through his lawyer. 

According to the jury, Heard was defamed by Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman to the Daily Mail. 

Waldman told the news outlet that Heard had committed a ‘hoax’ when she called police to their apartment in May 2016. 

The jury awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages and nothing in punitive damages.

Heard came to the court today. On the other hand, Depp is currently in the UK and didn't come for the verdict.

After the verdict, Amber Heard released a statement.

“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," she said.

“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."

“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.”