US actor Johnny Depp claimed to welcome the verdict of the defamation case on allegations of domestic violence that was contested between him and his ex-wife Amber Heard.
“The jury gave me life once more,” Depp said in a statement following the jury awarded him $15 million in damages and only $2 million for Heard.
“From the very beginning, the purpose of bringing this case forward was to uncover the truth, regardless of the outcome,” he said.
Previously, a US jury on Wednesday (1/6) assessed that both Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard were equally responsible for defamation between them.
This consideration was conveyed by the jury following the trial of the case of allegations of domestic violence.
Seven jurors in Virginia awarded Depp $15 million in damages following finding that a 2018 article written by Heard regarding his “sexual assault” had defamed Depp.
On the other hand, the jury also found that Heard was slandered by statements made by Depp’s attorney, Adam Waldman, who told the Daily Mail that his harassment claim was a “hoax”, and awarded him $2 million in damages.
The conflict between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard began when Amber Heard’s writings regarding domestic violence were published in the Washington Post. Although it did not explicitly mention Johnny’s name, Amber’s writing at that time was assumed to refer to the “Fantastic Beast” star.
This trial has been started since April 11. Depp sued Amber Heard for US $ 50 million because it is considered to have tarnished his name and got him kicked out of many projects, including Pirates of the Caribbean.
Depp himself registered the lawsuit in 2019 and was supposed to start the trial in 2020. However, due to the pandemic, it was delayed until it finally started on April 11, 2022.
(ain/ain)
