Johnny Depp-Amber Heard verdict: Jury sides with Depp, awards $15 million

Less than an hour after Depp won his defamation case against Heard on Wednesday, he said in a statement that he felt like the “jury gave me my life back.”

But will the jury’s decision help him get his Hollywood career back? In the minds of some public relations experts, that remains to been seen.

In interviews with NBC News on Wednesday, three PR and crisis communications professionals said they felt confident that Depp could get his big-screen acting career back on track. Two other experts expressed more skepticism, pointing out that Depp’s stature in the entertainment industry was diminished even before the trial started and observing that a wide swath of the moviegoing public will continue to believe that Depp subjected Heard to physical abuse over years, regardless of the jury’s ruling.

Howard Breuer, chief executive of Newsroom Public Relations, a firm based in Los Angeles, said he thinks people in the industry will approach working with Depp again with caution.

“I’m sure there will be some factions in Hollywood who will be cautious as long as they know there are people out there who think Amber Heard was telling the truth,” Breuer said. “They’re going to be careful.”

Read more in NBC's story here.

Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the punitive damages the jury awarded Depp to $350,000, which is the state’s statutory cap, or legal limit, making his total damages $10.4 million.

In a statement, Depp celebrated his victory in his defamation lawsuit against Heard:

"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."

Many on social media who have followed the Depp-Heard case closely were jubilant after the verdict was read on Wednesday afternoon, calling the decision the "best possible outcome" on platforms like Reddit.

"Overcome with emotions at the moment! He did it! So proud of him! It has been an honor to fight for truth & justice the past 6 years. Finally, he has received justice!!" one person wrote on Twitter.

On Reddit, some celebrated saying justice is "alive and well."

On TikTok, the celebration continued, with one user posting a video of herself crying with happiness with the text, "He actually won." The comment section also celebrated the victory, with some writing "I'm so proud" and "Justice was served." Within 15 minutes the video had amassed nearly 25,000 views.

But not all social media users celebrated the decision, with some expressing concern about what this could mean for future domestic violence survivors.

"[T]his case set a horrible precedent for the way victims of abuse will be treated by the court of public opinion in the future," one person wrote.

Heard released a statement Wednesday afternoon reacting to the jury siding with Depp:

“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband.

I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously. 

I believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK.

I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly.”

The seven-person jury also awarded $2 million in compensatory damages to Heard, but $0 in punitive damages.

The jury has awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages in his defamation suit against Heard.

A Northern Virginia jury sided with Johnny Depp on Wednesday afternoon, finding that former wife Amber Heard defamed him with allegations that he had committed domestic violence.

Depp sued for $50 million in damages over a 2018 opinion-editorial essay in The Washington Post, in which Heard said she had become a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”

Although the essay never mentioned Depp by name, his attorneys said it indirectly referred to allegations she made against him during their 2016 divorce.