Amber Heard will pay Johnny Depp $1 million to end their long legal battle. Both said that the other was violent to their partners during that time.
She had to pay $8.35 million after a six-week trial in Virginia earlier this year. From that, this amount is a big drop. Most likely, her insurance company will give her the money.
In a statement, Depp’s lawyers said he would give the money to a good cause. His lawyers have said in the past that “it was never about the money” in Depp’s case. In her statement, Heard said that she no longer trusted the American justice system. She also said that the settlement kept her from having to go to court again and gave her a chance to be “free” from their marriage finally.
In March 2019, Depp sued Heard for $50 million for defamation after she wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post in which she called her a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Each actor testified for a few days at the trial in Fairfax, Virginia. They talked about how they used drugs and got into screaming matches. Their stories were retold over and over on TikTok and Facebook and were shown live on YouTube. Heard said Depp hit her a lot, choked her, and once raped her with a liquor bottle. She often broke down and cried when she spoke.
On the other hand, Depp said that Heard was the one who started fights, and when she got violent, he would try to leave. The couple recorded their fights during their marriage and kept them on tape. Each side played clips they had chosen to prove their point.
All three of Depp’s claims of defamation were upheld by the seven-person jury. They gave him $10 million in damages to make up for what he had lost and $5 million in damages to punish him. The second amount was cut to $350,000 because that is the maximum amount allowed by law.
As a small consolation, the jury also ruled in Heard’s favor on one of her three counterclaims, holding Depp responsible for a statement made by his lawyer in which Heard was accused of pulling a “hoax.” So, the judge told Depp to pay Heard $2 million, giving Depp a net win of $8.35 million.
Heard filed a notice of appeal the following month. The judge made “mistakes,” her lawyer said. But the “Aquaman” actor has now agreed to let her give up her case.
In an Instagram post about the decision, Heard said, “There are no limits or gags on my voice from this point forward.” She was angry that her testimony was turned into “entertainment and social media fodder” by the U.S. legal system.
She also said that Johnny Depp did the same thing in the U.K. as she did in the U.S. In 2020, he sued the British tabloid The Sun because it had called him a “wife beater” in an article. Amber Heard was a primary source for The Sun. In that case, the judge agreed with The Sun that the claims were “substantially true.”
In a statement, Depp’s lawyers said they were happy with the verdict and emphasized that the jury’s decision still stood.
Amber Heard first said that Depp had hurt her when she divorced the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star in 2016. She got $7 million as a settlement, and the couple signed contracts saying they wouldn’t talk about it or say anything bad about her.
What is Amber Heard doing?
What is Amber Heard doing? Since her defamation trial against Johnny Depp ended in June 2022, she is said to be living in Spain with her daughter Oonagh under a fake name. People heard from a source that the trial was tough on her. “She has spent the last few months in Europe, which she loves because she missed her little girl. “The actress could play a mother there, “they told me.
Read Also: Amber Heard still has feelings for Johnny Depp
In 2016, Amber Heard wrote a personal essay for the Washington Post in which she said her husband had hurt her. In June 2022, it was found out that Heard had lied about her ex-husband. He was given $15 million in compensation and punitive damages, and she was given $2 million for her counterclaims against the Pirates of the Caribbean actor. Her lawyers say the trial was held in an “awful place.” They also disagreed with the judge’s decision to throw out certain pieces of evidence, like the therapist’s notes showing the alleged abuse happened over a long time.
