By Associated Press
FAIRFAX: A jury’s discovering that each Johnny Depp and his ex-wife, Amber Heard, have been defamed in a long-running public dispute capped a lurid six-week trial that additionally raised questions on whether or not the 2 actors can overcome tarnished reputations.
The verdict handed down Wednesday in Virginia discovered that Depp had been defamed by three statements in an op-ed written by Heard by which she mentioned she was an abuse sufferer. The jury awarded him greater than $10 million. But jurors additionally concluded that Heard was defamed by a lawyer for Depp who accused her of making an in depth hoax surrounding the abuse allegations. She was awarded $2 million.
Depp had hoped the libel lawsuit would assist restore his popularity. However, authorized and leisure specialists mentioned that each actors’ reputations have been broken by ugly particulars about their temporary marriage that got here out throughout the televised trial watched by tens of millions.
“Both of them will work again, but I think it will be a while before a major studio will consider them ‘safe’ enough to bet on,” mentioned former leisure lawyer Matthew Belloni, who writes in regards to the enterprise of Hollywood for the publication Puck. “The personal baggage that was revealed in this trial was just too icky for a studio to want to deal with.”
The case captivated viewers who watched gavel-to-gavel tv protection, together with impassioned followers on social media who dissected the actors’ mannerisms, their wardrobe selections and their use of alcohol and medicines.
Both performers emerge with unclear prospects for his or her careers. Depp, a three-time finest actor Oscar nominee, was a bankable star till latest years, with credit together with taking part in Capt. Jack Sparrow within the “Pirates of the Caribbean” movies. However, he misplaced that position and was changed in a “Fantastic Beasts” spinoff.
Heard’s appearing profession has been extra modest, and her solely two upcoming roles are in a small movie and the upcoming “Aquaman” sequel due out subsequent 12 months.
Eric Rose, a disaster administration and communications skilled in Los Angeles, referred to as the trial a “classic murder-suicide,” when it comes to injury to each careers.
“From a reputation-management perspective, there can be no winners,” he mentioned. “They’ve bloodied each other up. It becomes more difficult now for studios to hire either actor because you’re potentially alienating a large segment of your audience who may not like the fact that you have retained either Johnny or Amber for a specific project because feelings are so strong now.”
Heard, who attended courtroom Wednesday and was stoic whereas the decision was learn, mentioned she was heartbroken by what she described as a setback for girls typically.
“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It’s a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously,” she mentioned in a press release posted on her Twitter account.
Depp, who was not in courtroom Wednesday, mentioned “the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled.”
“I hope that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up,” he mentioned in a press release posted to Instagram.
Depp sued Heard for libel in Fairfax County Circuit Court over a December 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.” The essay by no means talked about his title.
The jury present in Depp’s favor on all three of his claims referring to particular statements within the piece.
In evaluating Heard’s counterclaims, jurors thought of three statements by a lawyer for Depp who referred to as her allegations a hoax. They discovered she was defamed by one in all them, by which the lawyer claimed that she and pals “spilled a little wine and roughed the place up, got their stories straight,” and referred to as police.
While the case was ostensibly about libel, many of the testimony centered on whether or not Heard had been bodily and sexually abused, as she claimed. Heard enumerated greater than a dozen alleged assaults, together with a struggle in Australia — the place Depp was capturing a “Pirates of the Caribbean” sequel — by which Depp misplaced the tip of his center finger and Heard mentioned she was sexually assaulted with a liquor bottle.
Depp mentioned he by no means hit Heard and that she was the abuser, although Heard’s attorneys highlighted years-old textual content messages Depp despatched apologizing to Heard for his conduct in addition to profane texts he despatched to a pal by which Depp mentioned he needed to kill Heard and defile her lifeless physique.
Brett Ward, a household legislation lawyer in New York, mentioned Depp made himself a extra plausible witness by admitting to drug and alcohol use and that he could possibly be a tough individual. But he mentioned Depp additionally ran the chance of creating these moments extra memorable to the general public than his movie work.
“He says he did this for his children. Having watched the whole trial, I don’t think that he did any service to his children by airing all of this dirty laundry,” Ward mentioned in an interview.
“But whether this was worthwhile for Johnny Depp, we will know in five years if he reestablishes himself as an A-list Hollywood actor. And if he doesn’t? I think he’s made a terrible mistake because most people aren’t going to remember his rather distinguished Hollywood career. They’re going to remember this trial.”
