On Wednesday, June 1, the jury returned a verdict in a libel case between Johnny Depp and his ex-wife Amber Heard.

The actress was ordered to pay Depp compensation in the amount of $10 million, as well as $5 million in punitive damages.

At the same time, the amount was cut to $10.35 million in accordance with the limitation of punitive sanctions of Virginia.

At the same time, as a result of consideration of the counterclaim by Heard against Depp, the jury found the fact of libel in one of the statements from the actor.

They estimated this damage at $ 2 million. Thus, Hurd is obliged to pay Depp $ 8.35 million.

"The jury said, 'You've both done bad things,'" trial attorney Lawrence McClafferty said.

“But, according to the jury, her actions were an order of magnitude worse.”

As Johnny Depp noted in his statement, because of the scandalous statements of Amber Heard, his life changed in an instant.

At the same time, the accusations against him affected not only his personal relationships, but also his career.  

“And six years later, a jury literally gave me my life back.

I bow my head,” Depp writes.

He stressed that he had been thinking about continuing this case for a long time, because he understood what legal difficulties await him along the way.

As a result, the artist decided to sue the ex-wife in order to "tell the truth - regardless of the outcome."

“I had an obligation to tell the truth to my children and to all those who continued to unwaveringly support me.

I feel at peace knowing that I was finally able to achieve this, ”emphasizes Johnny Depp.

Amber Heard, in turn, said she was disappointed with the jury's decision, because the "mountains of evidence" were not enough to counter the "influence" of her ex-husband.

According to the actress, Johnny Depp's lawyers forced the jury to ignore the evidence presented. 

According to a spokesperson for Heard, cited by the Daily Mail, the actress plans to appeal the verdict.

The verdict in favor of Johnpy Depp was unanimous - all seven jurors found "clear and convincing" evidence that Amber Heard had slandered the actor when she called herself "a public figure faced with domestic violence" in a column for The Washington Post.

According to Amber Heard's lawyer Ben Rottenborn, the evidence for both sides was not convincing enough.

Earlier in the UK, the same facts were considered, as a result of which Amber Heard won in court, but in Virginia the jury sided with Depp.

According to Variety, in many respects the outcome of the case depended on who would cause more confidence among the jury.  

“The jury didn’t like Amber Heard,” says lawyer Dave Ring.

They didn't like what she did.

They did not like the version of herself that she presented in front of the court.

And Johnny Depp definitely won."

Amber Heard and Johnny Depp met on the set of The Rum Diary in 2010.

The couple dated for five years, after which they got married.

However, there were many quarrels in the married life of the stars, and already in August 2016, Heard and Depp divorced. 

Later, the British tabloid The Sun published an article that talked about domestic violence by Depp.

The actor was outraged by the false information and filed a libel suit against the tabloid.

During the trial, Amber Heard stated that the ex-husband raised his hand to her more than once.

The actor, in turn, denied all accusations and said that he himself was a victim of domestic violence.

In November 2020, the court ruled in favor of the publisher, denying the artist's claim. 

The lost case had a big impact on Depp's career.

He lost the role of the dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald, which he played in the first two films of the Fantastic Beasts series.

In addition, the film "The Great" was supposed to be released at that time.

The world premiere took place, but in the United States the film was in no hurry to release.

The artist was sure that Hollywood would boycott him in this way. 

In 2018, The Washington Post published an article by Amber Heard.

In it, the actress made a scandalous statement, after which Johnny Depp sued her.

Both parties presented different versions of the events that took place during the family life of the artists.

Depp claimed that Heard was the real abuser and that she had a strong "need for violence".

He admitted that the couple had quarrels, but denied that he raised his hand to his former lover.

The actress insisted that Depp hit her regularly.

The jury heard more than 60 witnesses, including the couple's friends, relatives, employees, agents and doctors.

Both sides presented testimony from experts in psychiatry and social media analysis, as well as photographs, audio recordings of the couple's disputes, and numerous emails and text messages.