The legal issue between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has been a long-standing one. On June 1, 2021, a jury returned its verdict in the defamation trial between the two celebrities, finding that Heard had defamed Depp three times in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed, while attorney Adam Waldman — acting on Depp’s behalf — defamed her once in his 2020 Daily Mail article.
The case began in 2018 when Heard wrote an op-ed in the Washington Post, in which she alleged that she had been the victim of domestic abuse at the hands of Depp. Depp then filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard in 2019, claiming that the allegations were false and that Heard had damaged his reputation.
Heard then countersued, claiming that Depp had defamed her in an article written by his attorney, Adam Waldman, which was published in the Daily Mail in 2020. In the article, Waldman accused Heard of being a “gold-digger” and of fabricating her allegations of domestic abuse.
The jury found that Heard had defamed Depp three times in her Washington Post op-ed, but that Waldman had defamed her once in his Daily Mail article. The jury also found that Depp had not defamed Heard in his countersuit.
The jury’s verdict means that Depp is entitled to damages for the three defamatory statements made by Heard. However, the amount of damages has yet to be determined. The case is expected to go to trial in December 2022, where a judge will decide the amount of damages Depp is entitled to.
The legal issue between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard has been a long and drawn-out one, but the jury’s verdict on June 1, 2021, has finally brought the case to a close. While the amount of damages Depp is entitled to has yet to be determined, the jury’s verdict is a victory for Depp and a reminder that false allegations of domestic abuse should not be taken lightly.
