Johnny Depp Responds to Amber Heard & Says $10M Judgment Was Fair — Fans Think 'He Deserves More'

After Amber Heard lost the defamation trial against Johnny Depp, she was ordered to pay him $10 million. However, the actress said she didn't have the cash, but Johnny's fans believe he was supposed to be awarded more.

Johnny Depp began dating Amber Heard after his relationship with Vanessa Paradis ended. The "Edward Scissorhands" star was with Paradis for fourteen years, but they never married.

Their relationship concluded in June 2012 after they'd been estranged for a long time. Heard met Johnny in 2011 on "The Rum Diary's" set, but they didn't start seeing each other romantically until the latter had become estranged from Paradis.

After Johnny moved on with the actress, it took months before he became public about their relationship. However, before he and Paradis separated, the "21 Jump Street" star allegedly sent Heard "numerous gifts."

Things became serious as the couple started falling in love. Soon enough, Johnny and Heard decided to do something that he'd failed to do with his former long-term partner, Paradis.

GETTING MARRIED AND TRYING TO BOND WITH JOHNNY'S CHILDREN

In 2014, an image of Hear wearing an ornate engagement ring made the rounds before People magazine reported that Johnny and the actress were engaged. The following year, the couple married in a private ceremony in their Los Angeles home.

In 2013, it seemed Heard was integrating well with Johnny's family, which includes his children with Paradis. That year, she was seen with Lily-Rose, Jack, and Johnny during a Tokyo, Japan, promotional trip for the actor's movie, "The Lone Ranger."

While walking together after they arrived in Tokyo, Heard seemed to be at ease with the young children. At one point, she was spotted with her arm around Jack, who wore green sunglasses and carried a backpack.

Despite the actress seeming close to the children, Lily-Rose failed to attend when she and Johnny tied the knot. In 2022, the actor said his daughter and Heard "were not on particularly great terms, for several reasons."

THE END OF JOHNNY AND AMBER'S MARRIAGE, PLUS THE DRAMA THAT FOLLOWED

Sadly, Heard and Johnny's marriage didn't last long, and in 2016, she filed for divorce from him. The actress filed a restraining order, claiming her estranged husband had been abusive throughout their relationship, which he denied.

She said he'd physically and verbally abused her and had "a short fuse." Heard even supplied images that showed the injuries she'd suffered from the alleged abuse, and during her August 13, 2016, Century City law office appearance, she claimed:

“I was petrified of the monster.”

Months before, in May 2016, the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) responded to a domestic abuse call from Heard. When the police arrived, the actress didn't insist they report the matter, and no signs of abuse were found.

However, during a court appearance, Johnny's estranged wife had a bruise under her eye, which she blamed on him. In August 2016, the two stars finally settled their divorce and Heard's domestic abuse case against her ex-husband.

The actress withdrew her domestic violence restraining order and received a $7 million divorce settlement in their deal. Heard pledged to donate some settlement monies to the Children's Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) and the ACLU.

The former couple's divorce was finalized in January 2017, and the actress got to keep Pistol and Boo, the dogs she'd once shared with her ex-husband. However, the drama between the former couple was far from over.

In 2019, Heard was fighting against her ex-husband's $50 million defamation lawsuit against her. The actress asked a Virginia judge to throw the case out because it should be happening in California.

The lawsuit came about because, in December 2018, Johnny's ex-wife wrote a Washington Post op-ed describing the alleged abuse. Her ex-husband's name didn't come up but led to Johnny's legal filing.

During Johnny's defamation suit, his ex-wife described him as "the monster" several times in her testimony. She accused him of abusing her during different instances and getting drunk before threatening her life.

However, in 2020, Daily Mail got a hold of tapes where the "Aquaman" actress exposed the violent tantrums from 2015 that she had aimed at her ex-husband. In the recordings, she admitted to physically abusing Johnny.

DEPP'S FAILED LIBEL CASE AND THE LAST TRIAL BETWEEN HIM AND HEARD

On July 7, 2020, Johnny's libel trial against News Group Newspapers began. The Sun's publisher went to court with the actor over a 2018 article where they described him as a "wife beater."

Paradis even testified for her ex-boyfriend, but Judge Justice Andrew Nicol ruled against the actor, noting how The Sun was correct in reporting that the star had been violent towards his ex-wife. The accusations Johnny faced started affecting his career.

In November 2020, four days after the libel case concluded, Johnny revealed in an Instagram letter that Warner Bros. had asked him to resign from his role in the "Fantastic Beasts 3" movie. The star agreed to the request.

Johnny's defamation case against Heard began in early April 2022, and a verdict was reached on June 1, 2022. The actress countersued her ex-husband for $100 million after her motion to move the case to California was denied, with Johnny stating during the trial:

“It was my responsibility to not only clear my name …I wanted to clear my children of this horrid thing they had to read about their father, that was untrue.”

The "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" star was awarded $10.4 million in damages after the trial. Heard was awarded $2 million for her countersuit and her lawyer revealed the star was going to appeal the verdict.

AMBER AND JOHNNY'S VIEWS ON THE VERDICT

Heard's attorney later revealed to the "Today" show that her client could not pay the penalty ruled against her. Since the trial was televised, social media users could share their opinions with many of them, siding with Johnny, with the actress's lawyer noting:

"There's no way they [the jury] couldn't have been influenced by it. And it was horrible. It really, really was lopsided."

Heard's representative also felt the ruling set a bad precedence for future domestic abuse cases. She thought victims wouldn't be believed unless they made a video of their partner abusing them.

While others thought the star [Johnny Depp] deserved more than what he got.

In May 2021, Johnny's legal team filed court documents asking for an order to determine how much money Heard donated to the ACLU and the CHLA from the $7 million settlement.

Even though Johnny was awarded millions in his case, his attorney hinted that his client might not push Heard to pay damages because it was never about the money but restoring the actor's reputation.

According to TMZ, Johnny thought the verdict by the jury was fair because of how her defamation against him led to the loss of work worth around $40 million. Some fans agreed that the actor deserved the damages.

Responding to TMZ's Facebook post about the actor thinking the money judgment was fair, one person urged him to get his money and not refuse it. At the same time, others felt the star deserved more than what he got.

Another fan said Heard's ex should've gotten $40 million, while someone else felt the star deserved a more significant judgment after losing his work on the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise.