A jury in Fairfax, Virginia, on Wednesday found actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp, who were married between 2015 and 2016, guilty of defamation in the lawsuits they brought against each other.
Depp had sued Heard after she published an article in the Washington Post in 2018 in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse”.
The text did not mention Depp’s name, but the actor claimed that, as implied by the accusation that he had committed physical and sexual assaults before and during their marriage (they had met in 2009), this caused him to lose roles in Hollywood. .
Heard, meanwhile, sued Depp for defamation after a lawyer for the actor described his allegations as a “hoax”. Depp denied the aggression and said that his ex-wife was the violent person in the relationship. The trial lasted six weeks.
According to CNN, the jury determined that Depp be compensated by his ex-wife for $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages – of this amount, the actor will receive only $350,000, as Virginia law stipulates that punitive damages may not exceed that amount.
The jury awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages. Depp had asked for $50 million in damages and Heard for $100 million.
#Jury #finds #Johnny #Depp #exwife #guilty #defamation #lawsuits