A male juror from the Johnny Depp vs. Amber Heard defamation lawsuit is speaking out against the “Aquaman” actress.
Heard was found to have defamed ex-husband Depp with her claims of domestic abuse in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed piece that did not name Depp specifically. After a six-week-long trial, Depp was awarded $10.4 million in damages.
Heard “didn’t come across as believable,” a juror told Good Morning America on June 16 regarding Heard’s testimony. “It seemed like she was able to flip the switch on her emotions. She would answer one question and she would be crying and two seconds later she would turn ice cold. It didn’t seem natural.”
The jury consisted of two women and five men; this is the first statement made publicly by anyone on the panel.
Speaking about the Depp vs. Heard case, the juror continued, “They had their husband-wife arguments. They were both yelling at each other. I don’t think that makes either of them right or wrong. That’s what you do when you get into an argument, I guess. But to rise to the level of what she was claiming, there wasn’t enough or any evidence that really supported what she was saying.”
The juror specifically addressed two photos of Heard that she alleged showed bruising after claims of an altercation with Depp. “Those were two different pictures. We couldn’t really tell which picture was real and which one was not,” the juror explained.
Heard also previously vowed to donate proceeds from her divorce from Depp to charity for abuse survivors. “The fact is, she didn’t give much of it away at all,” the juror said. “It was disingenuous.”
After Heard and her attorneys argued that the ruling of the case was biased due to Depp’s legions of fans on social media, the juror told GMA that “none of us were really fans of either one of them.”
He added, “Social media did not impact us. We followed the evidence. We didn’t take into account anything outside [the courtroom]. We only looked at the evidence…They were very serious accusations and a lot of money involved. So we weren’t taking it lightly.”
Leading #MeToo attorney Lee Feldman exclusively told IndieWire that the verdict of the Depp v. Heard case was not surprising “given the reaction to the proceedings on Twitter and social media.” However, the “bizarre” case hinged on the “damaging testimony” by Heard involving the TMZ reporter who claimed Heard called them to photograph her bruised face.
“Her acting coach, who said she had a hard time mustering tears when fake-crying, which killed Amber’s credibility when she sobbed throughout her testimony without shedding tears,” Feldman said. “Those two facts were so easy to spin into ‘she fabricated everything.’ Rarely will you ever have evidence like that to introduce in a trial like this.”
Despite rumors that Warner Bros. was cutting Heard out of the upcoming “Aquaman 2” DC installment, Heard’s representative confirmed to IndieWire that her career is still in the clear, again pointing to the downfalls of social media. “The rumor mill continues as it has from day one — inaccurate, insensitive, and slightly insane,” Heard’s rep stated.
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