Johnny Depp celebrates the libel verdict, Amber’s heartbroken

A jubilant Johnny Depp declared on Wednesday that an American jury “gave me my life back” by massively taking his side in a fierce libel battle with his ex-wife Amber Heard on mutual claims of spousal violence.

The jury, following a six-week trial, concluded that Depp and Heard had defamed each other, but weighed much more heavily with the star “Pirates of the Caribbean”.

The 58-year-old Depp, who lost a defamation case to the tabloid The Sun in London in 2020 for calling him a “wife-beater” celebrated the verdict shared in the case as a victory while Heard said she was “heartbroken.”

The jury of 5 men and 2 women, after three days of deliberation, unanimously declared Heard responsible for the three counts of libel against Depp and awarded him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages.

Virginia’s law caps punitive damages at $350,000, which means the entire amount is $10.35 million.

The 36-year-old Heard won only one of the three counter-claims she made against Depp and was awarded compensatory damages by the jury–much less than $2 million.