Amber Heard ‘unable to pay’ the millions in damages to Johnny Depp in defamation trial

Amber Heard’s lawyer says that her client will be unable to pay the millions in damages she must hand over to Johnny Depp after a jury determined she defamed her ex-husband in the weeks-long trial.

Speaking one day after the verdict was delivered, attorney Elaine Bredehoft told Savannah Guthri while appearing on NBC’s The Today Show that her client is “absolutely not” able to pay the $8.35m in damages that the Pirates of the Caribbean actor won after a jury deliberated for three days following the closely followed, and widely panned, trial.

Mr Depp, who received a total of $10m in compensatory charges related to lost career opportunities and $5m in punitive damages, won his defamation lawsuit on all three counts against his ex-wife which all spurred from a 2018 op-ed she wrote in The Washington Post about being a victim of domestic abuse.

Heard, who had countersued Mr Depp for defamation, won one of three claims against her ex-husband’s lawyer, who had labelled her abuse allegations a hoax and was awarded $2m.

Ms Bredehoft told the morning talk show host that her client intends to appeal the verdict.

“One of the first things she said is that, ‘I am so sorry to all those women out there,’” Ms Bredehoft said. “This is a setback for all women in and outside the courtroom, and she feels the burden of that.”

“Unless you pull out your phone and you video your spouse or your significant other beating you, effectively, you won’t be believed,” she added.

In a statement, The Aquaman actor expressed a deep “heartbreak” following the verdict’s reading on Wednesday afternoon.

“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” Ms Heard said. “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.”

The attorney also took aim at the social media circus that devotedly trolled her client in the six-week long defamation trial, noting that there was “no way” it couldn’t have influenced the outcome.

“There’s no way they couldn’t have been influenced. It was horrible. It was really, really lop sided,” she told Ms Guthri on Thursday morning. “It’s like the Roman coliseum, how they viewed this whole case.”