Johnny Depp loses 'wife beater' libel suit against Britain's The Sun newspaper

Johnny Depp has lost his libel case against British tabloid The Sun, the newspaper that claimed he had assaulted ex-wife Amber Heard, The New York Times reported Monday. The actor had sued the publisher of The Sun after the outlet ran an article on its website in 2018 titled "Gone Potty: How can J.K. Rowling be 'genuinely happy' casting wife beater Johnny Depp in the new Fantastic Beasts film?" Depp claimed that he did not beat Heard.

The trial was heard over 16 days in July at the Royal Courts of Justice in London. In the course of her testimony, Heard said that Depp attacked her on at least 14 occasions. The couple married in 2015 and Heard filed for divorce the following year.

Judge Andrew Nicol wrote in a ruling issued online that The Sun had proved what was in the article was "substantially true" and that "the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp have been proved to the civil standard."

"For those of us present for the London High Court trial, this decision and judgment are not a surprise," Heard's lawyer said in a statement. "Very soon, we will be presenting even more voluminous evidence in the U.S."

Depp is suing his ex-wife in the U.S. over a 2018 article she wrote in The Washington Post alleging she was a victim of domestic abuse. While she never mentioned Depp by name, the actor’s lawsuit called her allegations against him a “hoax.”

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