The verdict in the most controversial and hyped celebrity case of actor Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. And Captain Jack Sparrow has won a high-profile defamation case, the jury in Fairfax, Virginia, began deliberating on this matter on last Friday.
The jury has awarded Johnny Depp 15 million in damages. Amber Heard has also won part of her libel case against Johnny Depp over articles in a privately owned newspaper, in which Johnny Depp’s former lawyer described her claims of domestic abuse as a hoax. The jury has awarded Amber Heard 2 million in damages.
Amber Heard took to her social media profile after the verdict and expressed her displeasure over the final outcome, it read, “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. 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,” she said.
After several years of dating, Depp and Heard married in a very private ceremony in their home in Los Angeles in 2015. On May 23, 2016, Heard filed for divorce from Depp and obtained a temporary restraining order against the Oscar-nominated actor. She alleged that Depp had physically abused her during their relationship, and said it was usually while under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
