Amber Heard's Lawyer Says The Actress Was 'Demonized' & She Can't Pay Johnny Depp's $8M
One of Amber Heard's lawyers blamed social media haters and "lopsided" media coverage for Wednesday's big verdict, after the jury sided mostly with Johnny Depp in the ex-couple's defamation trial.
"She was demonized," lawyer Elaine Bredehoft told NBC's TODAY show, in her first interview since the verdict dropped. "It was horrible."
Bredehoft also said that there's no way Heard will be able to pay the net amount of $8.35 million that she now owes Depp in damages.
"Absolutely not," Bredehoft said.
The jury sided with Depp on all of his defamation claims in court, and ordered Heard to pay him $15 million, although the judge knocked that down to $10.35 million. The jury also agreed with one of Heard's three claims of defamation against Depp, and awarded her $2 million in damages.
According to Bredehoft, the first thing Heard said after the verdict was announced was: "I am so sorry to all those women out there. This is a setback for all women in and outside the courtroom."
"She feels the burden of that," added Bredehoft.
Bredehoft accused Depp's team of trying to "demonize Amber" while suppressing what she says was evidence of 12 cases of domestic violence.
"We had an enormous amount of evidence that was suppressed in this case that was in the U.K. case," shared Bredehoft.
An earlier trial in the U.K. found in favour of Heard instead of Depp, and Bredehoft alleges it's because that trial included more of Heard's evidence.
Heard's lawyer also blamed the media coverage and social media conversation for the jury's verdict. Much of that conversation involved pro-Depp and anti-Heard videos and memes online.
"They went home every night, they have families, the families are on social media," said Bredehoft. "We had a 10-day break in the middle because of the judicial conference. There's no way they couldn't have been influenced."
Bredehoft also said she was upset by the cameras in the courtroom, which turned the case into an internationally-televised trial while inspiring countless TikTok videos and other reaction clips.
"It's like the Roman Colosseum how they view this whole case," she said. "It made it a zoo."
Bredehoft says Heard is looking to appeal the decision and has "excellent grounds for it."
