A 7-person jury in Virginia reached a verdict Wednesday regarding Johnny Depp’s defamation lawsuit against ex-wife Amber Heard.
The “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor sued Heard for $50 million in damages over a 2018 Washington Post opinion article in which Heard claimed she had become a “public figure representing domestic abuse,” although she did not mention Depp by name. His attorneys, however, argued that it referred to allegations that she made during their 2016 divorce proceedings.
Reports on the scene said the verdict will be read at around 3 p.m. ET.
Defamation lawsuits brought by public figures typically have to meet the high bar of both proving the claims were false and that the individual or entity who made the defamatory remark did so with “actual malice,” according to a landmark Supreme Court ruling in 1964….