Amber Heard settles defamation case against Johnny Depp

According to lawyers for Johnny Depp, US actress Amber Heard will pay him $1 million (£820,000) to resolve their defamation lawsuit.

This spring, the ex-couple engaged in a public legal struggle.

In June, a Virginia jury found that Ms. Heard had defamed Mr. Depp, 59, in a piece in which she claimed to be an abuse victim.

Ms. Heard, 36, who made the announcement of the settlement earlier in the day, said it was “not an act of concession.”

She appealed the decision of the jury earlier this month and requested a fresh trial or that the panel’s verdict be overturned.

The Aquaman actress claimed, however, that she had chosen to settle after “losing faith in the American justice system” in a statement she released on Monday.

The optimum result would be a new trial, she argued, even if her US appeal is approved. I’m not going through that, period.

In a 2018 op-ed that was written by his ex-wife and appeared in the Washington Post, she identified herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse” without mentioning Mr. Depp. This prompted Mr. Depp to sue her for defamation. A counterclaim was made by Ms. Heard.

Public interest in the six-week study was intense. After divorcing in 2017, the former couple gave radically different stories of their five-year relationship, each blaming the other for misbehaviour and violence. In his testimony, Mr. Depp vehemently refuted the allegations made by his ex-wife that he had abused her emotionally, physically, and sexually.

The jury awarded Mr. Depp $15 million (£12 million) in damages, primarily siding with him.

Legal professionals were taken aback by the decision, particularly since Mr. Depp had previously lost in a comparable lawsuit in the UK two years prior.

In a statement released on Monday, Mr. Depp’s attorneys said they were pleased to “officially close the door on this difficult chapter for Mr. Depp,” adding that the actor would be giving the $1 million settlement to several organizations.