Amber Heard to appeal verdict after losing to Johnny Depp

Amber Heard announces that she’ll appeal verdict of defamation trial

Two separate photos of a man in tinted glasses and a woman with braided blond hair

June 24, 2022 3:02 PM PT

Amber Heard is not backing down yet.

On Friday, the legal teams of Heard and ex-husband Johnny Depp convened at a Fairfax, Va., courtroom with Judge Penney Azcarate. Instead of finalizing a settlement, Heard’s representatives said the actor will appeal the outcome of the six-week defamation trial.

“As stated in yesterday’s congressional hearings, you don’t ask for a pardon if you are innocent. And you don’t decline to appeal if you know you are right,” a spokesperson for Heard said.

The meeting comes just weeks after the contentious televised trial concluded on June 1. The jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages, eventually downsized to slightly more than $10 million per Virginia’s statutory limit, and $2 million to Heard.

According to Deadline, Azcarate told Heard’s attorney Elaine Bredehoft that the actor will have to pay an $8.35-million bond and 6% yearly interest for the appeal to formally proceed. Bredehoft previously said that Heard is “absolutely not” able to afford the judgment, which casts doubt on the affordability of a possible appeal.

Neither Heard nor Depp were present for Friday’s hearing.

Heard has continued pleading her case following the June 1 ruling. In her first post-trial interview with NBC’s “Dateline” and Savannah Guthrie, the actor presented more evidence, including a binder of notes from her therapist that she said would have helped sway the court decision in her favor.

Heard also said that she “absolutely” still loves her ex-husband and that she will continue to stand by her court testimony until her “dying day.”