Depp’s lawyers discuss verdict on TV shows

A week after Johnny Depp prevailed in his highprofile defamation case against ex-wife Amber Heard, his lawyers appeared on multiple morning shows and said he was “over the moon” about the verdict.

“It was like the weight of the world had been taken off his shoulders and I feel that finally, after six years, he has gotten his life back,” attorney Benjamin Chew told “Good Morning America” co-anchor George Stephanopoulos.

Chew and fellow Depp lawyer Camille Vasquez appeared Wednesday on both “GMA” and NBC’s “Today.” Vasquez added on “GMA” that “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 said the outcome was “six years in the making.”

A Fairfax County Circuit Court jury found on June 1 that Heard defamed Depp with a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which she described herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. Heard did not name Depp in the article. Depp, who sued Heard for $50 million, was awarded $15 million (though he will receive $10.35 million, as Virginia law limits punitive damages to $350,000). Heard received $2 million after the jury ruled in favor of a countersuit claim that former Depp lawyer Adam Waldman defamed her.

The weeks-long trial streamed live online, contributing to a social media frenzy — most often in support of Depp.

A statement issued by Heard’s team ahead of Wednesday’s interviews said, “It is as unseemly as it is unprofessional that Johnny Depp’s legal team has chosen to do a victory lap for setting back decades of how women can be treated in the courtroom. What’s next? A movie deal and merchandising?”