Amber Heard stayed at a $22,500-a-month luxury mansion in Virginia during her libel trial against Johnny Depp, as revealed by TMZ.
Despite paying for the 13,000-square-foot house throughout the trial, the 36-year-old actress says she can’t pay the more than $8 million she owes her ex-husband after a jury ruled she defamed him.
The actress was ordered to pay Depp, 58, $15 million: $10 million in compensation and $5 million in punitive damages.
The judge later limited damages to the Virginia maximum of $350,000. Minus the $2 million Depp ordered Heard to pay, she owes him a total of $8.35 million.
However, Heard’s attorney, Elaine Bredhoft, recently announced that the actress “absolutely” cannot pay damages and said she intends to appeal the verdict.
Despite her representation’s claims of financial problems, Heard rented a mansion with her family while the trial unfolded.
The actress reportedly rented a 13,000-square-foot mansion in McLean, Virginia, a DC suburb, and a 25-minute drive from the Fairfax Country Courthouse, where her trial ran for 6 weeks.
The house sits on an acre of land and features a tennis court, a home theater room, eight bedrooms, and a set of wide stairs at the entrance.
A Zillow listing for the property describes it as: “One of the most distinctive and private properties offered in McLean,” and raves about a “grand two-story foyer with an elegant double-curving staircase—a true dream.” for the artists.
Rental records on the list do not include Heard’s name, but show the property was rented on May 4, 2020. It is unclear if the property was rented at the start of the trial on April 11.
Witnesses reportedly said Heard was seen at the home of her sister Whitney and her daughter Oomagh Paige. Heard’s security was also seen at the property.
Bredhoft appeared on the Today Show Thursday and said Heard has “excellent grounds” to appeal the verdict and plans to do so. Asked if the Aquaman actress would be able to pay damages she owes Depp after a jury upheld her claims that she lied in accusing him of abuse during her marriage, Bredhoft replied: “Absolutely not. No”.
Heard intends to appeal on the grounds that Depp’s legal team removed a mountain of evidence, including therapist notes and texts detailing the abuse, which could have won her the case, according to Bredehoft.
“We had an enormous amount of evidence that was suppressed in this case that was in the UK case,” Bredehoft said, “In the UK case when it came through, Amber won and Mr. Depp lost. The court found there, and we were not 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.”
But the Fairfax County jury reversed that ruling after a six-week trial and hours of deliberations. It decided that Heard had acted “with actual malice” by effectively accusing Depp of abuse through a 2018 op-ed for the Washington Post. The Mrs.
Bredehoft said Heard has “excellent grounds” for a sensational appeal. The lawyer blamed the absence of “very, very significant” medical records dating back to 2012.
They “showed a pattern” of Heard reporting Depp’s alleged abuse to her therapist. There was also a stack of texts detailing the nature of Depp’s violence towards Heard, Bredehoft added. She said: “We had a significant number of text messages, including from Mr. Depp’s assistants, saying ‘When I told him he kicked you, he cried, he’s so sorry.’ That didn’t go in. The Fairfax County judge ruled that this evidence was inadmissible following an offer from Depp’s legal team.
Ms Bredehoft said: “Unless you take out your phone and videotape your spouse hitting you, they won’t believe you.” Heard’s attorney also insisted that the jury in the case had been influenced by public opinion, particularly through social media, despite the judge’s strict orders not to read anything about the case outside of court. “There’s no way they haven’t been influenced,” she said of the jury’s access to public sentiment during the case. “It was horrible. It was very, very lopsided. It’s like the Roman coliseum, how they looked at this whole case.”
ABC