Johnny Depp Wins Defamation Case Against Amber Heard

Published on June 2, 2022.

(AP Photos/Steve Helber, Pool)

Johnny Depp has won all three defamation claims in his case against ex-wife Amber Heard.

The jury awarded Depp with $15 million in damages, but Heard will only pay $10.35 million due to Virginia law cap on punitive damages.

When it comes to Heard’s countersuit against Depp, he was found guilty of defamation on one of her three claims. She was awarded $2 million in damages.

Depp was not present for the reveal and watched from the U.K. where he’s been performing. Heard attended in person for the verdict.

In 2018, Heard came forward with domestic abuse allegations in an op-ed published in the Washington Post. “Two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse, and I felt the full force of our culture’s wrath for women who speak out.” While she didn’t refer to Johnny by name, Heard filed for divorce and a domestic violence restraining order against him in May 2016.

During the trial, Depp testified that he was physically abused by Heard, and he shared on multiple occasions under oath that he never struck her or any woman. “No human being is perfect, certainly not. None of us. But I have never in my life committed sexual battery, physical abuse, all these outlandish, outrageous stories of me committing these things and living with it for six years and waiting to be able to bring the truth out.”

Depp said his “goal” with the trial was to reveal “the truth” and clear his name. He added that Heard’s allegations caused him to lose “nothing short of everything,” including his reputation and career.