This June 1, a jury ruled in favor of Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in the defamation lawsuit, but the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor was not in the courtroom when the verdict was read.
“Due to pre-scheduled work commitments made before the trial, Mr. Depp will not be physically present for the verdict,” a source close to Johnny confirmed to the New York Post. .
However, Depp was watching the trial from the UK, the same place where he made a surprise concert appearance by taking the stage to play guitar alongside Jeff Beck.
And it is that Johnny was seen celebrating his victory over Amber in a bar accompanied by Jeff himself and other musicians at the time the verdict was read.
Amber Heard, meanwhile, came to court of Virginia to hear the verdict in person.
Johnny received $50 million, while Heard Despite losing his case, he received $2 million from the jury. Depp won all three counts of his defamation suit after a jury upheld his claim that his ex-wife tarnished her reputation and damaged her career when she wrote about becoming a “public figure representing domestic abuse” after the couple’s split. .
Amber’s op-ed for The Washington Post did not mention Depp’s name, but was widely interpreted as referring to him.
The plaintiff filed the claim for $50 million in 2019, but the trial did not start until last April due to delays caused by the coronavirus pandemic. The actress, for her part, counter-sued for $100 million dollars.
Depp previously filed a libel suit against UK newspaper The Sun after the publication called him a “wife beater” in an article about his involvement in the ‘Fantastic Beasts’ film series.
That trial began in July 2020 and four months later, the Superior Court of Justice ruled that the story was not defamatory because the accusations of Heard against Depp were “substantially true”.