On Wednesday, a Virginia jury ruled that actor Amber Heard defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp in a six-week trial that featured explicit and graphic evidence and testimony detailing the former Hollywood couple’s soured relationship. The jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages from Heard.

The jury also ruled in favor of Heard in some aspects of her counter-suit against Depp.
The panel awarded Heard $2 million in damages.

The 58-year-old actor sued Heard for $50 million and argued that she defamed him when she called herself “a public figure representing domestic abuse” in a newspaper opinion piece in 2018.

His wife Amber Heard, 36, then countersued for $100 million and said that she had undegone domestic abuse for years after their marriage.

Depp has denied hitting Heard or any woman and said she was the one who turned violent in their relationship.

At the center of the legal case is a December 2018 opinion piece by Heard in the Washington Post in which she made the statement about domestic abuse. The article did not mention Johny Depp by name but his lawyer told jurors it was clear that Heard was referring to him.

During the six weeks of testimony which was watched worldwide , Heard’s attorneys argued that she had told the truth and that her comments were covered as free speech under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment.

Throughout the case, the jury listened to recordings of the couple’s fights and saw graphic photos of Depp’s injured finger. He said the top of the finger was severed when Heard threw a alcohol bottle at him in 2015.

Heard denied injuring Depp’s finger and said Depp sexually assaulted her that night with a liquor bottle.

The Testimony was livestreamed widely on social media, drawing large audiences to hear details about the couple’s troubled relationship.

Depp and Heard met in 2011 while filming “The Rum Diary” and wed in February 2015. Their divorce was finalized about two years later.

Once among Hollywood’s biggest stars, Johny Depp said Heard’s allegations cost him “everything.” A new “Pirates” movie was put on hold and Depp was replaced in the “Fantastic Beasts” film franchise, a “Harry Potter” spinoff. But fortunately, Depp had evidences against Heard which helped him win the case and his fans from all over the world supported him.