Why Johnny Depp Won’t Actually Receive $15 Million After Amber Heard Verdict

Johnny Depp may have found legal victory after a jury sided with him in his defamation trial against Amber Heard, but he won’t receive the full $15 million a Virginia jury awarded him. On Wednesday, a jury of five men and two women awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, but a Virginia law will see the actor receiving millions of dollars less.

Immediately after the verdict was read in court, Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the punitive damages figure from $5 million to $350,000. The massive reduction was due to Virginia law, which caps punitive damages, which “seek to punish the wrongdoer and deter others from similar conduct, per KPM Law, at a maximum of $350,000. There is no cap on compensatory damages in Virginia. This means that in total, Depp will receive $10.4 million dollars, a sum that Heard’s attorneys say she cannot afford to pay.

Regardless of the fact that he won’t receive the full amount awarded to him, Depp is more than happy with the outcome of the trial, which came after Depp sued Heard, who was awarded $2 million by the jury, for $50 million over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she identified him as a “public figure representing domestic abuse” without naming her alleged abuser. After six weeks of testimony, and after closing arguments were presented on Friday, the jury entered the deliberation stage, which lasted for nearly 13 hours between Tuesday and Wednesday. Although Depp was not present in court when the verdict was read, he released a statement shortly after thanking the jury for giving “me my life back.”

“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,” Depp’s statement read. “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.”

Depp added that he was “truly humbled” after the jury gave him “my life back,” and said he brought the case forward after “considerable thought” and his goal had always been 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.” Depp added that he hopes his “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.”

Although the Wednesday verdict marked the end of the defamation trial, it may not mark the end of the Depp and Heard saga, which has captivated social media. During a Thursday appearance on Today, Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft revealed that the Aquaman star “absolutely” plans to appeal, explaining that her client “has some excellent grounds for” an appeal.