UPDATE: Amber Heard’s Attorney Says Actress Can ‘Absolutely Not’ Pay $10 Million to Johnny Depp After Verdict
Just one day after the verdict was delivered in Johnny Depp’s defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard, her attorney is speaking out.
While appearing on NBC’s The Today Show this Thursday, attorney Elaine Bredehoft told Savannah Guthri that her client is “absolutely not” able to pay the millions in damages that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor won after a jury deliberated for three days following the trial.
As we previously reported, Depp, who received a total of $10M in compensatory charges related to lost career opportunities and $5m in punitive damages, won his defamation lawsuit on all three counts against his ex-wife which all stemmed from a 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post about being a victim of domestic abuse. The actress, 36, will only have to pay $10.35 million due to a Virginia law capping punitive damages (the judge reduced the amount).
“A number of things were allowed in this court that should not have been allowed, and it caused the jury to be confused,” she said. When host Savannah Guthrie asked if Heard would be able to pay the $10.4 million in damages, Bredehoft responded: “Oh, no, absolutely not.”
She added that “the court found that Mr. Depp had committed at least 12 acts of domestic violence, including sexual violence against Amber,” Bredehoft told Today. “So what did Depp’s team learn from this? Demonize Amber, and suppress the evidence.” Bredehoft says her client plans to file an appeal.
Following her big loss, Heard relaeaswd a statment saying,
“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” Heard wrote in her statement. “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex husband.”
“It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke up could be publicly shamed and humiliated,” she said. “It sets back the idea that violence against women should be taken seriously.”
Depp also released a statement detailing that his life was “forever changed” by the incidents:
“False, very serious, and criminal allegations were levied at me via the media, which triggered an endless barrage of hateful content, although no charges were ever brought against me,” the statement read. “It had already traveled around the world twice within a nanosecond and it had a seismic impact on my life and my career. And six years later, the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled.”
Press Play Below For More:
EXCLUSIVE: @SavannahGuthrie talks to Amber Heard’s attorney, Elaine Charlson Bredhoft, following Johnny Depp's legal win. pic.twitter.com/i1EOlz1NcU
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) June 2, 2022
RELATED: Johnny Depp Reacts To Winning Defamation Suit Against Amber Heard: ‘I Have My Life Back’