DEPP MAY $PARE EX
Att’ys hint: The ‘win’ is all he wanted
Johnny Depp’s attorneys hinted Wednesday that the Hollywood superstar may not collect his $10.4 million payout from ex-wife Amber Heard, insisting he is satisfied with his “total win” finally clearing his name.
“We obviously can’t disclose attorney-client communications, but as Mr. Depp testified . . . this was never about money for Mr.
Depp,” one of the actor’s attorneys, Ben Chew, told “Good Morning America” when asked about Heard’s fear of being left impoverished.
“This was about restoring his reputation — and he’s done that,” Chew said carefully, telling host George Stephanopoulos, “It was a total win for Johnny.”
In a separate live interview on the “Today” show Wednesday, Chew dismissed the likelihood of Heard ever overturning the decision.
“We feel very confident that there are no errors that would justify any kind of successful appeal,” he said.
No blow to #MeToo
Fellow attorney Camille Vasquez, the hotshot lawyer who became a celebrity herself and was this week promoted to a partner in her law firm, called it “disappointing” that Heard’s team called the victory a blow for women’s rights and the #MeToo movement.
She said the actress was brought down instead by Depp’s counsel “using her words against her.”
“The key to victory was focusing on the facts and the evidence, and Johnny’s opportunity to speak the truth for the first time,” she told “GMA,” saying that the win was “six years in the making.”
“Every question that was asked was tied to something she had said previously.
“And I think the jury got to see, the world got to see and hear from Miss Heard” about the truth in the couple’s toxic relationship.
“We believe that evidence speaks for itself . . . The jury made a unanimous decision based on those facts,” she said.
“We encourage any victims to come forward, domestic violence doesn’t have a gender,” she said
of evidence presented showing that Depp had been attacked, too.
And no smear campaign
The two lawyers both dismissed suggestions that social media swayed the jury. Chew told “Today” that it was “absurd and baseless” to suggest that the support Depp received online was part of an orchestrated campaign.
Asked bluntly if the actor’s team had helped encourage the support — or even paid for it — Vasquez said such claims were “categorically false.”
Instead, Depp won over fans, and ultimately the jury, because of his “accountability” in his toxic marriage, Chew said.
“Johnny owned his issues. He was very candid about his alcohol and drug issues. He was candid about some unfortunate texts that he wrote,” the attorney said.
“And I think it was a sharp contrast to Ms. Heard who . . . didn’t take accountability for anything.”
Vasquez said Depp now has “an overwhelming sense of relief.”
“I was speaking with another friend of ours, a mutual friend of Johnny’s and ours, and he said, ‘I haven’t seen Johnny smile like that in six years,’ ” she added.
Depp won his bombshell defamation lawsuit after seven Fairfax, Va., jurors ruled in his favor that a Washington Post op-ed Heard wrote about becoming a “public figure representing domestic abuse” had sullied his reputation and damaged his career.
The Washington Post has since added a detailed editor’s note to Heard’s op-ed to highlight how it was ruled defamatory.