Depp Team Hints at Waiving Heard's Damages Amid Rumors of Her Money Woes

Johnny Depp's attorneys have hinted that the millions of dollars in damages owed to their client by his ex-wife, Amber Heard, could be waived, after her lawyer said that she couldn't afford to pay.

Depp, 58, recently battled it out in court with Heard, 36, after filing a $50 million lawsuit against her over a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post, in which she said that she was a domestic abuse survivor.

Following the six-week trial, the jury on June 1 awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. The judge adjusted the punitive damages to $350,000, as Virginia law limits punitive damages.

Heard, who had countersued for $100 million, was awarded $2 million by the jury, which found that Depp's former attorney, Adam Waldman, had made defamatory comments about the Aquaman star.

Depp's attorneys, Camille Vasquez and Ben Chew, sat down for an interview on Wednesday with Good Morning America's George Stephanopoulos, who asked them about Heard's lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, sharing plans to appeal the verdict.

"[Heard] doesn't have the money to pay for the judgment. And you all have said that the goal is not to impoverish Ms. Heard," said Stephanopoulos. "Is it possible we could see a settlement where she foregoes the appeal in return for Mr. Depp waiving any monetary damages?"

"We obviously can't disclose attorney-client communications," Chew responded. "But, as Mr. Depp testified and as we both made clear in our respective closings, this was never about money for Mr. Depp. This was about restoring his reputation and he's done that."

"So you're not disclosing any privileges, but it sounds like that's something that could be on the table but it's up to Ms. Heard?" Stephanopoulos pressed.

"Again, we have to be careful what we say," Chew commented. "But this was about Mr. Depp's reputation. That was what it was about for him."

Depp's courtroom victory came almost two years after he lost a 2020 libel case against British tabloid The Sun, which had labeled the actor a "wife-beater" in reference to Heard's allegations of domestic abuse.

Heard accused Depp of domestic abuse during their divorce proceedings in 2016. The stars, who wed in 2015, had their union officially dissolved in January 2017, months after Heard filed for divorce from Depp.

While Depp had repeatedly denied ever having been violent to Heard during the three-week trial in London, the judge found that the U.K. publication's claims that the actor was abusive to Heard were "substantially true."

During their most recent court battle, both Depp and Heard alleged that their careers had been negatively impacted by the allegations leveled at one another. Both denied the other's accusations of domestic violence.

Last week, Bredehoft said during an appearance on the Today show that Heard would "absolutely" be appealing the verdict, adding: "She has excellent grounds for it.

"We had even tried to get the U.K. judgment in to dismiss his case, because he already had his shot, and that's one of the issues. But also a number of the evidentiary issues, there was so much evidence that did not come in.

"The court found there, and we weren't allowed to tell the jury this, but the court found that Mr Depp had committed at least 12 acts of domestic violence, including sexual violence, against Amber.

"We had an enormous amount of evidence that was suppressed in this case, that was in the U.K. case."

Heard testified during the trial that the negative publicity surrounding the lawsuits had led to her role in Aquaman 2 being significantly reduced.

Newsweek has contacted representatives of Heard for comment.