Actress Amber Heard is unable to pay her ex-husband Johnny Depp more than $10 million in damages, her lawyer said Thursday, after a US jury took the side of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star in a bitter defamation trial.The lengthy, high-profile televised court battle ended Wednesday, when a seven-person jury found that Depp and Heard had defamed each other, but weighed in far more strongly with Depp. The jury awarded him $10.35 million in damages, in contrast with $2 million awarded to Heard.Asked on NBC's TODAY show if Heard will be able to pay up, her attorney Elaine Bredehoft answered: "Oh no, absolutely not." She added that Heard wants to appeal the verdict.
The 58-year-old Depp, who lost a libel case against The Sun tabloid in London in 2020 for calling him a "wife-beater," celebrated the split verdict in the case as a victory while Heard said she was "heart-broken."Depp sued Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse."The Texas-born Heard, who had a starring role in "Aquaman," did not name Depp in the piece, but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and sought $50 million in damages.The 36-year-old Heard countersued for $100 million, saying she was defamed by statements made by Depp's lawyer, Adam Waldman, who told the Daily Mail her abuse claims were a "hoax."Bredehoft said Depp's legal team worked to "demonize" Heard and suppressed crucial evidence in the trial, preventing the jurors from examining evidence of Depp's alleged abuse.