Amber Heard's lawyer says she is 'absolutely not' able to pay $10.4 million damages to Johnny Depp

Amber Heard's lawyer says the actress is unable to pay millions of dollars in damages awarded to Johnny Depp after the former couple's long-running defamation trial came to an end Wednesday.

After a jury found that Depp was entitled to $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages (reduced by Judge Penney Azcarate to Virginia's $350,000 statutory cap) — under the $50 million he sued for — Heard's lawyer, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, told Today the Aquaman 2 star was "demonized" by Depp's team during the case.

"A number of things were allowed in this court that should not have been allowed, and it caused the jury to be confused," she said. When host Savannah Guthrie asked if Heard would be able to pay the $10.4 million in damages, Bredehoft responded: "Oh, no, absolutely not."

A jury in Fairfax County, Va., found that Heard intentionally and maliciously defamed Depp in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed that chronicled her experience as a domestic abuse survivor.

Throughout the trial, which included testimony from actress Ellen Barkin and supermodel Kate Moss, and even prompted DC Films and Warner Bros. to issue a statement regarding Heard's role in the upcoming Aquaman sequel, Heard spoke about the physical and mental abuse she allegedly endured. She was ultimately awarded $2 million by the jury on her $100 million countersuit.

EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images; STEVE HELBER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images Amber Heard and Johnny Depp in court

Bredehoft further cited the recent verdict in a 2020 case in which Depp lost a libel suit against the British publication The Sun for its coverage of the couple, particularly for labeling Depp a "wife beater" in its reporting.

"And 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," Bredehoft told Today. "So what did Depp's team learn from this? Demonize Amber, and suppress the evidence."

Following the 2022 verdict, Depp released a statement detailing that his life was "forever changed" by the incidents outlined in the case.

"False, very serious, and criminal allegations were levied at me via the media, which triggered an endless barrage of hateful content, although no charges were ever brought against me," the statement read. "It had already traveled around the world twice within a nanosecond and it had a seismic impact on my life and my career. And six years later, the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled."

EW has reached out to Depp's team for a response to Bredehoft's Today interview.

Heard also responded to the jury's verdict Wednesday, saying, "I'm heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband," She added, "I'm even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women."

Referencing the Sun case, Heard expressed disappointment over Depp's team "getting the jury to overlook the key issue of freedom of speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the U.K." She added, "I'm sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly."

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