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Amber Heard will appeal a jury's decision that she defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp when she claimed she was a survivor of sexual violence as the six-week-long televised trial between the two Hollywood bigwigs came to an end yesterday, resulting in Depp's win against Heard.
A seven-person jury in Virginia ruled on Wednesday that Heard defamed the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star and awarded him $10.35 million in damages. The jury also determined that Heard was defamed, awarding her $2 million. Now both Depp and Heard face an uphill battle: trying to rebuild their images and careers.
“Depp has a hill to climb. Heard has a mountain to climb," said Eric Dezenhall, a crisis mitigator. “If Depp keeps his expectations proportional and understands that he’s unlikely to hit his former heights, he can have a solid career if he takes things slowly. After all, he was vindicated in court, not declared a saint."
The challenge for Heard, Dezenhall said, is that rightly or wrongly, some believe she abused and perhaps even tarnished a worthy movement, #MeToo.
Given that such cases are notoriously hard to win, was the defamation route the way to go? Some observers with experience in high-profile cases believe Depp's decision to sue — even though it meant dragging his and Heard's personal lives through the mud — was a last-ditch attempt to bolster his star power after his failed London libel lawsuit against The Sun for describing him as a “wife beater."
Married just 15 months, Depp sued Heard for $50 million over the op-ed for The Washington Post in which she called herself “a public figure representing domestic abuse." She didn't identify Depp by name and it was published two years after she began making public accusations against him.
Heard countersued for $100 million, accusing the star of defaming her via the hoax accusations of attorney Adam Waldman. Many of the waning days of the trial focused on the aftereffects of both claims, with Depp testifying: “I lost nothing less than everything" and Heard accusing him of trying to erase her ability to work.