Noting evidence. Amber Heard’s nudes were going to be used in Johnny Depp’s defamation trial against her. In newly surfaced court documents, the Aquaman actress’ lawyers claimed that Depps’s lawyers wanted to use her nudes as evidence of personal matters.
In court documents that were obtained by The Daily Beast and the New York Post, Heard’s lawyers fought back on the evidence as it did not matter in the case. The lawyers brought up that the “irrelevant personal matters” should be excluded from the defamation trial, while alleging: “Mr. Depp inappropriately seeks to introduce evidence of the following Irrelevant Personal Matters: (1) nude pictures of Amber Heard; (2) Amber Heard’s sister Whitney’s reality show video; (3) Whitney and Amber’s past romantic relationships; (4) Amber’s brief stint as an exotic dancer years before she met Mr. Depp and Mr. Depp attempting to frivolously and maliciously suggest or imply that Ms. Heard was at one time an escort.”
Depp and Heard met on the set of The Rum Diaries in 2011, and they were married in 2015 and Heard filed for divorce in 2016. Depp won the defamation trial on June 1, 2022, after he sued Heard for $50 million. The trial was held due to an op-ed Heard wrote in The Washington Post in 2018 about her experiences with domestic abuse. Like Depps’s songs, no names were mentioned in the op-ed. However, many people speculated the article to be about her marriage to Depp. Depp claimed that the op-ed cost him his acting jobs.
Recently, Heard and her lawyers tried to o make a case for a mistrial due to a juror mishap. According to documents obtained by People, the lawyers state that “based on newly discovered facts and information that Juror No. 15 was not the individual summoned for jury duty on April 11, 2022.” They also attempted to throw away the verdict altogether where they claim that Depp’s compensatory award was “excessive” and “indefensible.” Heard’s spokesperson said of the mistrial filing, “While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice,” a spokesperson for Heard said about appealing, adding they “believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment.” However, Judge Penney Azcarte denied the mistrial.
Heard also sold her house amid reports that she is broke. She owes Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages for a total of $15 million. Due to the cap on punitive damages under Virginia state law, Judge Penney Azcarate reduced Heard’s punitive damages from $5 million to $350,000. Heard will have to pay Depp a total of $8.35 million in damages, accounting for the $2 million in compensatory damages he owes her. Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, told Today on June 2, 2022, that her client can “absolutely not” afford to pay Depp the $10.35 million she owes Depp in damages. “Oh no. Absolutely not, “Bredehoft said when asked if Heard has the money to afford Depp’s damages.
A source told The New York Post at the time that Heard is “broke” due to legal fees and her past lavish spending on travel, clothes, gifts and wine. The newspaper also reported that Heard had to change legal representation during the trial and is using her homeowner’s insurance from the insurance firm The Travelers Companies to cover the cost of her current attorneys. Pamela Johnson, the vice president of The Travelers Companies, has also been seen with Heard in court in Fairfax, Virginia, multiple times since the trial started in April 2022. Heather Heidelbaugh, a Pennsylvania-based trial attorney, told The New York Post that it’s not uncommon for defendants to use homeowner’s insurance policies in defamation cases. “It’s a little oddity that most people don’t know. In most homeowner insurance policies, there is coverage if you are sued for defamation based on how much you pay through coverage, ”she said.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available. Call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-SAFE (7233) for confidential support.