US jury awards Depp $15 million, Heard $2 million in defamation fight

A Virginia jury on Wednesday ruled that actor Amber Heard defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp in a widely watched six-week trial that featured explicit and graphic evidence and testimony detailing the former Hollywood couple's soured relationship.

The seven-person jury also ruled in favor of Heard in some aspects of her counter-suit against Depp.

Jurors awarded Depp $15 million in damages from Heard. The panel awarded Heard $2 million in damages.

Depp, the 58-year-old "Pirates of the Caribbean" star, 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.

Heard, 36, countersued for $100 million, saying Depp smeared her when his lawyer called her accusations a "hoax."

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

"The jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled," Depp, who watched the verdict from Britain, said in a statement issued by a spokesperson.

"The best is yet to come and a new chapter has finally begun," he added, ending with Latin phrase "Veritas numquam perit. Truth never perishes."

Heard, seated in the courtroom between two of her lawyers, looked down as the verdicts were read.

"The disappointment I feel today is beyond words," she said in a statement. "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," she added. "It is a setback."

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