Johnny Depp, Amber Heard reach settlement; everything to know
The multi-million dollar defamation case filed by actor Johnny Depp against his ex-wife and actor Amber Heard has finally come to a settlement, announced Heard on social media. Heard has agreed to pay Depp $1M. A Virginia court in June had passed the judgment in favor of Depp, pronouncing Heard guilty of defaming her ex-husband and further ordering her to pay $10M to him.
Why does this story matter?
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor filed a defamation case against Heard for accusing him of domestic abuse. The lawsuit was filed by Depp three years ago, but its trial had begun only this year in April. Depp and Heard's legal battle was heard by Virginia's Fairfax County Circuit Court in the USA, and the verdict was pronounced in June.
Here's what Heard said about the settlement
In an Instagram post, Amber Heard wrote that after a great deal of deliberation, she had to make the difficult decision of settling the suit with her ex-husband. "It's important for me to say that I never chose this. I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed," she wrote in the long post.
'Lost faith in the American legal system'
Writing further in her post, Heard wrote about how the defamation suit made her lose her faith in the American legal system where her "unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder." She further said that even though her US appeal is successful and a re-trial is set with a new journey, she "can't go through that for the third time."
Read her full statement here
Their marriage, accusations, and the suit
Depp and Heard got married in 2015. Soon, they headed for a split, accusing each other of bad behavior. Heard accused Depp of domestic violence, before the two were officially divorced. Later, Heard wrote a piece for the Washington Post, writing about the abuse without naming Depp. He then sued her for a $50M defamation suit, following which Heard filed a counter-suit of $100M.
