Amber Heard settles Johnny Depp defamation case 'having lost faith in the American legal system'

Amber Heard
(Image credit: EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Amber Heard is no longer appealing the verdict in the Johnny Depp defamation trial and has reached a settlement with her ex-husband.

The actress announced Monday on Instagram that she has dropped her appeal and reached a settlement after a Virginia jury found she defamed Depp, whom she accused of domestic abuse. Heard said she made the "very difficult decision to settle" after "I defended my truth" and "my life as I knew it was destroyed" in the process.

Terms were not disclosed, but Heard said the settlement will not prevent her from speaking out further on the case. TMZ reported she will pay $1 million, though the money will come from her insurance company.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

"I have made no admission," Heard said. "This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."

Depp sued Heard for writing an op-ed about being a victim of domestic abuse. During a high-profile trial, both accused the other of being the abuser in their relationship. The jury ultimately found they were both defamed, ordering Heard to pay over $10 million and Depp to pay $2 million. Since then, Heard had been fighting an appeal of the verdict.

But Heard said Monday that even if her appeal were successful, "the best outcome would be" another trial, and she wrote that she "cannot go through that for a third time" given the "humiliation" she experienced during the Virginia case. Depp and Heard also previously faced off in the U.K., where a judge found it was "substantially true" when a British tabloid called him a "wife beater."

Heard also said she reached the settlement "having lost faith in the American legal system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.