Amber Heard Posts Statement After Jury’s Verdict
Amber Heard took to social media to post her statement minutes after a jury ruled in favour of Johnny Depp in their widely aired defamation lawsuit.
The jury had reached a verdict on Wednesday in the high-profile defamation case between “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard.
After over 13 hours of deliberation, the seven-member jury in Virginia awarded Depp $15 million in damages, finding that Heard’s December 2018 article for The Washington Post defamed him. Heard was awarded $2million in damages for her counterclaim against Depp’s lawyer, who called her abuse allegations a ‘hoax.’
In her statement shared on social media, Heard wrote, “The disappointment I feel today is beyond words.”
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“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.”
The statement continued, “It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke up could be publicly shamed and humiliated,” she said. “It sets back the idea that violence against women should 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 U.K.”
The statement also noted that she was sad she lost the case. “But I am sadder still that I seemed to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly.”
On the other hand, in his statement on Instagram, Depp wrote, “The jury gave me my life back.”
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The 58-year-old Depp filed suit against Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
While the “Aquaman” star Heard did not name Depp in the piece, he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and requested $50 million in damages.
The 36-year-old Heard countersued for $100 million, saying she was defamed by statements made by Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, who told the Daily Mail her abuse claims were a “hoax.”
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