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Amber Heard settles $1 mn settle defamation suit against ex-hubby Johnny Depp, says she has lost faith in US legal system

Synopsis

A dejected Heard wrote on Instagram that she wanted to move on from the ordeal.

johnny depp amber canvaAP
The Depp vs Heard defamation trial have gone down as one of the most infamous legal disputes in Hollywood history.
Warring exes Johnny Depp and Amber Heard, who were engaged in one of the most acrimonious legal feuds post-falling out, have reportedly come to a compromise. Heard has agreed to pay Depp $1 million to settle their long-running legal dispute, in which both of them accused each other of domestic violence. The sum is a drastic reduction from the $8.35 million she was ordered to pay after the Virginia trial, earlier this year. The payment will come from her insurance company.

Depp originally filed a $50 million defamation lawsuit against Heard when she published a caustic op-ed in the Washington Post, in which she claimed that she was a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”

Depp's lawyers said he will donate that money to charity.

"We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process that his priority was about bringing the truth to light. The jury's unanimous decision and the resulting judgment in Mr. Depp's favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place," Depp's lawyers, Benjamin Chew and Camille Vazquez said.

On Monday (18 December) Heard wrote an emotional post, describing how the entire ordeal has been “difficult” for her and that she now wanted to move on and spend her time “productively and purposefully”, and immerse herself in work that would help her heal. “I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed. The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are re-victimised when they come forward, ’’ she added.
The estranged couple testified against each other in the trial at Fairfax, Va. The trial soon turned into a mudslinging fest as the duo dropped gory details of their decaying relationship. Heard claimed that Depp had assaulted her sexually multiple times and tried to injure her with a liquor bottle. On the other hand, Depp alleged that Heard was the aggressor in their relationship and had often raised her hands on him.

The jury ruled in Depp’s favour, awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. However, Depp was also ordered to pay Heard $2 million as his attorney had earlier dismissed Heard’s claims of domestic abuse as a “hoax”.

( Originally published on Dec 20, 2022 )

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