Depp already has 8.8 million followers on the platform and the number keeps growing by the hour. His first post is a montage of clips from his European tour with Jeff Beck, paired with a poetic message in the caption.
“To all of my most treasured, loyal and unwavering supporters. We’ve been everywhere together, we have seen everything together. We have walked the same road together. We did the right thing together, all because you cared,” he wrote.
He finished the statement, “And now, we will all move forward together. You are, as always, my employers and once again I am whittled down to no way to say thank you, other than just by saying thank you. So, thank you. My love & respect, JD.”
A spokesperson for Amber Heard responded, “As Johnny Depp says he’s ‘moving forward,’ women’s rights are moving backward. The verdict’s message to victims of domestic violence is ... be afraid to stand up and speak out.”
The jury awarded $15 million in damages to Depp, finding that Heard defamed him three times in her 2018 Washington Post article. The jury also awarded Heard $2 million in damages for comments made by Depp’s 2020 lawyer Adam Waldman.
The verdict comes 19 months after he lost his 2020 libel suit against the British tabloid The Sun for headlines calling him a "wife-beater." A London judge determined that the outlet’s claims were “substantially true.” Depp attempted to overturn the decision in March 2021 but was denied.
Heard plans to appeal the 2022 verdict, meaning this may not be the end of the defamation trial -- turned media phenomenon. ~Megan Parsons