Earlier this year, after one of the most talked-about and highly-publicized celebrity court battles in recent memory, a Virginia court ruled that Amber Heard must pay $10 million in compensatory damages to her ex-husband Johnny Depp after coming out on the losing end of her defamation trial. Depp was ordered to pay Heard $2 million.
The Aquaman actress appealed the decision and hired a new team of lawyers to fight her case, but has now agreed to withdraw her appeal and settle.
Heard made the announcement via Instagram, while stressing that this decision does not mean she'll stay silent about her experience. "I have made no admission, this is not an act of concession," she says. "There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."
Check out her statement in full below.
Depp's representative responded with the following statement (via Deadline).
"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 judgement in Mr. Depp’s favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place. The payment of $1M – which Mr. Depp is pledging and will (actually) donate to charities – reinforces Ms. Heard’s acknowledgement of the conclusion of the legal system’s rigorous pursuit for justice."
Despite persistent rumors that she'd been "fired," Heard will reprise the role of Mera for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom - although her screen-time has reportedly been reduced to around 10 minutes. In any case, with James Gunn and Peter Safran seemingly implementing a full reboot of the DCU, she'd almost certainly have been done with the character one way or the other.
Heard was definitely painted as the "bad guy" after the verdict, and there's no denying that some of the details that emerged during the trial did little to endear her to the public. But whichever side you happen to land on, the torrent of abuse she received on social media was completely uncalled for, so let's hope Heard - and Depp - are able to put this nasty business behind them and move on with their lives/careers.
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