Johnny Depp loses libel case against UK tabloid

Actor Johnny Depp has lost his libel case against The Sun after it published an article in 2018 that said he had attacked his now ex-wife, actress Amber Heard.

Depp sued The Sun’s owner, News Group Newspapers, and journalist Dan Wootton, NBC News reported.

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The judge overseeing the case, Justice Andrew Nicol, said what was written in the 2018 article "was substantially true,” Reuters reported.

The article said that Depp had been violent against Heard multiple times over their relationship.

They met in 2011 and got married in Feb. 2015. She filed for divorce 15 months later and eventually got a restraining order against Depp.

Depp said he was never violent against Heard and that she was the person who attacked him, testifying that she threw a vodka bottle at him during an argument and severing the tip of his finger, NBC News reported.

Heard said that her former husband would have a jealous alter ego, dubbed “the monster” during rages that were induced by drugs or alcohol, Retuers reported.

Heard claimed she was punched, slapped, kicked and choked at least 14 times, with Nicol saying 12 of the accounts were true, including one where she suffered a black eye.

Depp’s lawyer called Heard a compulsive liar, NBC News reported.

The legal team said The Sun’s article harmed his reputation and that their client was “entitled to very substantial damages.”

Depp is also suing Heard because of a 2018 opinion piece published in the Washington Post where she said she was a victim of domestic abuse and how speaking out impacted her career.

She did not mention Depp’s name in the article.

The defamation case against Heard is scheduled to begin in May, Deadline reported earlier this year.

Cox Media Group