It’s something a little different for this crowd, but the civil lawsuits between Hollywood actor Johnny Depp and his former wife, actress Amber Heard, have concluded.  A jury found Ms. Heard acted with malicious intent when she defamed her former husband Mr. Depp with accusations of abuse.

The jury awarded Mr. Depp $10 million in compensatory damages, and $5 million in punitive damages which are an outcome of the ‘malicious intent‘ finding.  However, the punitive damages are limited by law to $350,000.   On the three specific issues cited for consideration by the jury, the jurors all found Ms. Heard was guilty of lying, fabricating and targeting her former spouse with false claims.  {LINK} Result, Ms. Heard owes Mr. Depp $10,350,000.

Additionally, for her side of the countersuit, Ms. Heard was awarded $2 million as compensatory damages against Mr. Depp’s lawyer for one issue within a Daily Mail article where the Depp representative accused Ms. Heard of manufacturing a confrontation for publicity.   The net result of all the legal action is Ms. Heard owes Mr Depp $8.35 million.

With the three major issues around the litigation determined by the jury in favor of Mr. Depp, the actor released the following statement:

“Six years ago, my life, the life of my children, the lives of those closest to me, and also, the lives of the people who for many, many years have supported and believed in me were forever changed.

All in the blink of an eye.

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. 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.

My decision to pursue this case, knowing very well the height of the legal hurdles that I would be facing and the inevitable, worldwide spectacle into my life, was only made after considerable thought.

From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome. Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that.

I am, and have been, overwhelmed by the outpouring of love and the colossal support and kindness from around the world. 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. I also hope that the position will now return to innocent until proven guilty, both within the courts and in the media.

I wish to acknowledge the noble work of the Judge, the jurors, the court staff and the Sheriffs who have sacrificed their own time to get to this point, and to my diligent and unwavering legal team who did an extraordinary job in helping me to share the truth.

The best is yet to come and a new chapter has finally begun.

Veritas numquam perit.
Truth never perishes.”

(Source)

Hollywood continues to be weird.