Amber Heard has been found guilty of defamation by a Virginia court and ordered to pay her ex-husband Johnny Depp $8.35 million. But Heard’s attorney says Heard can’t raise the money.
Amber Heard’s headlines continue: Her attorney has now said the actress can’t afford to pay the $8.35 million judgment. Because that’s how much she owes her ex-husband Johnny Depp. A court in Virginia ruled Wednesday that Heard slandered him in a 2018 opinion piece.
Lawyer Elaine Bredehoft was now a guest on the “Today Show”. Moderator Savannah Guthrie asked if Heard would be able to wire that amount to Depp. Lawyer Bredehoft replied: “Oh no, definitely not.” But she believes that it will not come to that. Heard plans to appeal the verdict. Bredehoft emphasized that there was “so much evidence” that had not yet been evaluated in the trial and that would therefore be suitable for an appeal. Some of Heard’s medical records have not been approved. Bredehoft also said that intense social media attention to the case, which largely seemed to favor Depp and often vilified Heard, heavily influenced the outcome of the trial. Bredehoft said she resisted having the trial broadcast, which she says turned the courtroom into a “zoo.”
“[The jury] went home every night. They have families. The families are on social media. We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the judiciary conference. There’s no way they weren’t affected by that,” Bredehoft said.
The trial of Depp and Heard lasted more than six weeks and drew the attention of thousands of viewers online every day. A live stream of the verdict was viewed over 23 million times on Wednesday. Depp sued Heard for $50 million for defamation after she alleged in a 2018 op-ed piece in the Washington Post that he had abused her, although his name was not named in the article.
The jury found that Heard slandered Depp in all testimony surrounding the case. Heard sued Depp for $100 million for defamation. She won part of her counterclaim and was awarded two million dollars in damages. In a statement released after the verdict, Heard said she was disappointed and concerned at how it would affect other victims of domestic violence. Depp said “the jury gave me my life back”.
Sources: “Forbes”, “The Independent”
