Amber Heard Filed Her Appeal Against Johnny Depp... But There's A Catch

The drama between Amber Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp seems to be far from over.

On Thursday, July 21, the "Aquaman" actress officially filed an appeal against the "Pirates of the Caribbean" actor. In a courtroom in Fairfax, Virginia, Heard's legal team officially filed an appeal just before the deadline was up.

It's almost been two months since a 7-person jury found in favor of Johnny Depp. In 2018, Amber Heard published an op-ed in the Washington Post where she claimed to be a survivor of domestic violence. During a six-week trial, Depp insisted that he had never physically abused Heard, nor any woman.

After a contentious back and forth, a jury unanimously decided in Depp's favor and awarded him $10 million dollars in compensatory damages and $5 million damages in punitive damages. That $ 5 million dollar sum was reduced to only $350,000 dollars, the maximum allowed under Virginia state law.

The "Zombieland" actress had filed a countersuit claiming that one of Depp's attorneys had committed defamation when they called her abuse claims "a hoax." The jury found $2 million dollars for Heard's countersuit.

Although it was questionable whether or not Heard could actually afford the appeal, her legal team filed the motion for an appeal on July 21. Deadline shared a paragraph from the three-page filing, which reads as follows:

“Please take notice that Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff Amber Laura Heard, pursuant to Rule 5:9 of the Rules of the Supreme Court of Virginia, hereby gives Notice of her Appeal to the Virginia Court of Appeals from this Court’s June 24, 2022 Final Judgment Order, the July 13, 2022 Order on Defendant and Counterclaim Plaintiff Amber Laura Beard’s Post-Trial Motions (“Post-Trial Motions Order”), and from all additional Orders and rulings by the Trial Court prior to the entry of the Final Judgment Order and Post-Trial Motions Order.”

However, Deadline also noted that Heard has not paid the $8.3 million dollar bond that is required under Virginia law to conduct an appeal. During a hearing on June 24, Judge Penney Azcarate, who oversaw the initial trial, reminded Heard's legal team that Amber Heard was required to front the hefty sum to file an appeal.

As of today, it seems that Heard has only put up $500 dollars to begin the appeal process, but she will need to present the rest of the money in order to complete her appeal.

The initial document was submitted to the court by Heard's main lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft. Shortly after the document was submitted, Heard's legal team put out another statement, claiming that the court "made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict," which is why they have decided to file an appeal.

“We believe the court made errors that prevented a just and fair verdict consistent with the First Amendment,” a spokesperson for Heard told The Blast. “We are therefore appealing the verdict. While we realize today’s filing will ignite the Twitter bonfires, there are steps we need to take to ensure both fairness and justice.”

However, a spokesperson for Johnny Depp also released their own statement, saying that they are "confident" that Heard will not be able to appeal the jury's initial ruling.

“The jury listened to the extensive evidence presented during the six-week trial and came to a clear and unanimous verdict that the defendant herself defamed Mr. Depp, in multiple instances,” asserted a Depp spokesperson this morning. “We remain confident in our case and that this verdict will stand.”