Johnny Depp wins defamation suit against ex-wife Amber Heard
Fox Nation host Nancy Grace joined "America's Newsroom" to discuss why she was not surprised by the verdict in the Depp-Heard defamation trial.
Johnny Depp won a $10.35 million judgment against Amber Heard in June after a sensational six-week trial that featured shocking allegations of physical and sexual abuse — as both stars took turns on the witness stand.
The jury found that the "Aquaman" actress had defamed her ex-husband by penning a 2018 op-ed in which she identified herself as "a public figure representing domestic abuse."
The jury awarded Heard a $2 million judgment in her countersuit that accused the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star of defaming her through his lawyer.
The former couple have been battling publicly since they split in 2016 — but their sordid saga may finally be coming to a close.
AMBER HEARD SETTLES DEFAMATION CASE WITH JOHNNY DEPP FOR $1M
Johnny Depp, left, Kate Moss and Amber Heard (Evelyn Hochstein/Pool via Reuters)
Heard has agreed to pay Depp $1 million to settle his defamation claim against her.
Here’s a look back at key moments in the blockbuster live-streamed trial in Virginia that captivated millions of viewers who couldn’t turn away from the real-life soap opera.
Johnny Depp takes the stand
Depp capped four days on the stand in the Fairfax County Courthouse with an audio recording of him and his ex-wife talking after she publicly accused him of domestic violence in 2016 and obtained a restraining order against him.
Heard tells Depp that she thought he might accidentally kill her when the pair’s fights got heated.
Actor Johnny Depp testifies in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Fairfax, Virginia, April 25, 2022. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, Pool)
"Amber, I lost a f--king finger, man, come on," he shot back, referring to a 2015 brawl in Australia when he alleged that she severed his fingertip with a vodka bottle. "I had a f--king can, a jar of mineral spirits thrown at my nose," he said of Heard allegedly chucking the bottle at his face during another clash. She has denied both incidents.
AMBER HEARD SETTLEMENT ‘ENSHRINES’ JOHNNY DEPP'S VICTORY, EXPERT SAYS
"You can tell people it was a fair fight and see what the jury and judge think," Heard scoffs on the recording. "Tell the world, Johnny, tell them, Johnny Depp, ‘I, Johnny Depp, a man, I’m a victim, too, of domestic violence.’"
A close-up of Johnny Depp's caricature at The Palm restaurant in McLean, Virginia. He earned a coveted spot on the wall after spending countless nights dining at the steakhouse during the civil trial. (Fox News Digital)
In a powerful moment, Depp’s lawyer, Jessica Meyers, stopped the recording and asked Depp what he said in response to Heard. "I said, 'Yes, I am," he replied before stepping off the stand.
Heard claims Depp sexually assaulted her with a liquor bottle
Heard dissolved into tears as she described the same 2015 fight in Australia that left Depp with a severed digit.
She alleged that Depp, in a jealous drug-fueled rage, tore off her nightgown, dragged her naked across shards of broken glass and repeatedly punched her.
Amber Heard testifies May 5, 2022, in Fairfax, Virginia. (Jim Lo Scalzo via Reuters)
She claimed Depp then pinned her against the bar and penetrated her with a bottle of Maker’s Mark.
"I thought he was punching me. I felt this pressure. I felt this pressure on my pubic bone," she told the jury through heaving sobs. "I didn’t know if the bottle he had inside of me was broken."
Depp, she said, sliced off his own fingertip when he bashed a wall-mounted phone during the knock-down, drag-out fight that lasted three days.
Amber Heard testifies against ex-husband Johnny Depp on May 5, 2022. (Jim Lo Scalzo/Pool via Reuters)
But the house manager testified that the phone in the bar area isn’t wall mounted and was undamaged. He also didn’t observe any injuries on Heard, who never sought medical treatment for the alleged assault.
Depp has denied ever abusing Heard.
‘Justice League’ actress grilled over $7 million donation claim
While Heard was on the stand, Depp’s lawyer, Camille Vasquez, played a clip of the actress telling a Dutch talk-show host that she had donated the entirety of her $7 million divorce settlement to charity.
JOHNNY DEPP IS STAYING AT RITZ, DINING ON CHICKEN PARM DURING BOMBSHELL DEFAMATION TRIAL
"$7 million in total was donated," she said on "RTL Late Night" in October 2018. "I split it between the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. I wanted nothing."
After divorcing in 2017, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have accused each other of domestic abuse. (Getty Images/File)
From prior testimony, jurors had already learned that most of the $1.3 million that had been paid on her behalf to the ACLU came from Heard's then-boyfriend Elon Musk, according to testimony from the nonprofit’s general counsel, Terence Dougherty.
An executive from Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles testified that they had only received $250,000 of the promised $3.5 million.
Vasquez pressed Heard on the discrepancy during cross-examination.
"I use pledge and donation synonymous with one another," Heard shot back testily, to which Vasquez replied, "I don’t."
Infamous defecation incident
After a blowup with Heard on her 30th birthday, Depp fled their Los Angeles home in April 2016. The next day, Depp learned that a pile of human excrement had been left on his side of the marital bed.
"I laughed. It was so outside, it was so bizarre and so grotesque that I could only laugh," Depp testified.
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in Fairfax County Circuit Court in Virginia, May 26, 2022. (Michael Reynolds/Pool via Reuters)
Heard has denied that she or one of her friends pooped in the bed and has fingered her Teacup Yorkies as the culprits.
"I lived with those dogs for many years," Depp said. "That did not come from a dog. It just didn’t."
Depp’s longtime chauffeur, Starling Jenkins III, drove Heard to Coachella on the same day the housekeeper found the feces. Jenkins said he and Heard discussed the "surprise she left in the boss's bed" and allegedly told him it was a "a horrible practical joke gone wrong."
Surprise witness: Kate Moss
Model Kate Moss, who was called as a last-minute witness after Heard’s testimony accidentally opened the door, told jurors that Depp never laid a hand on her.
KATE MOSS, JOHNNY DEPP'S EX, TESTIFIES ACTOR NEVER PUSHED HER DOWN STAIRS
The catwalker, who dated Depp in the 1990s, was allowed to testify only after Heard mistakenly blurted out her name during her turn on the stand.
This 1995 file photo shows Johnny Depp and Kate Moss in Los Angeles. (Barry King/WireImage)
Heard told jurors about a fight with Depp in March 2015 when she thought he was about to shove her sister down the stairs, and she punched him.
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"I instantly think of Kate Moss and the stairs, and I swung at him," Heard testified, referring to an alleged rumor that Depp had once shoved the Calvin Klein icon down a flight of stairs.
The statement prompted Depp’s lawyer, Ben Chew, to turn to his team in the courtroom and do a fist pump as Depp grinned.
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Moss, testifying via video from England, suggested that Depp never abused her and had actually come to her rescue when she slipped and fell while the pair vacationed in Jamaica.
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