After a nearly two-month-long trial, a jury ruled overwhelmingly in favor of Johnny Depp in his defamation trial against Amber Heard, awarding the actor $15 million in damages. Heard’s counterclaim of defamation was largely dismissed, though the jury awarded the actress $2 million in compensatory damages over Depp’s attorney’s characterizations of her abuse allegations as a “hoax.”
The jury began deliberations last Friday, after six weeks of disturbing testimony that was turned into a mass, often crass, spectacle for the internet and the world. Depp sued Heard for $50 million for allegedly defaming him in an op-ed that the actress wrote for The Washington Post in 2018, referring to herself as a survivor of domestic violence without ever naming Depp. Heard countersued for $100 million, claiming Depp’s team defamed her in claiming her abuse allegations were manufactured.
