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Amber Heard Says She’s Decided To Settle Johnny Depp’s Case Against Her : NPR

December 19, 2022

Actress Amber Heard leaves the Fairfax County Courthouse June 1 in Fairfax, Virginia.

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Win McNamee/Getty Images

Actress Amber Heard leaves the Fairfax County Courthouse June 1 in Fairfax, Virginia.

Win McNamee/Getty Images

Amber Heard has said she plans to settle the libel case brought against her by ex-husband Johnny Depp. Heard had recently appealed after a Virginia jury overwhelmingly sided with Depp in June in the hotly contested case.

“I’m making this decision after losing faith in the US justice system, where my unprotected testimony has served as entertainment and social media content,” Heard said in an Instagram post Monday morning.

Depp awarded over $10 million in defamation case against Heard and she gets $2 million

In June, the jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in $5 million in punitive damages (although a cap on punitive damages in Virginia meant the actual amount was $10.35 million). He also awarded Heard $2 million in a countersuit against Depp.

In a statement, Depp’s attorneys, Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez, said the settlement involved a $1 million payment to the actor.

“We are pleased to officially close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who has made it clear throughout this process that his priority is getting the truth out,” Chew and Vasquez said in a statement sent to NPR. . “The unanimous jury decision and resulting judgment in favor of Mr. Depp versus Ms. Heard remains fully in place. The payment of $1 million – which Mr. Depp pledges and will donate to charity – reinforces Ms. Heard’s acknowledgment of the conclusion of the judicial system’s rigorous pursuit of justice.”

Heard’s legal and executive team did not immediately return NPR’s requests for comment.

Heard says the US justice system has let her down

Actor Johnny Depp testifies in the courtroom of the Fairfax County Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia.

Evelyn Hockstein/AP

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Actor Johnny Depp testifies in the courtroom of the Fairfax County Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia.

Evelyn Hockstein/AP

Heard wrote on Instagram on Monday that by settling down, she can finally “break free” from the situation “on terms I can agree to.” She said of those terms she “made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags as to my voice going forward.”

Heard also criticized the American justice system, saying that in this courtroom “popularity and power mattered more than reason and due process”.

By comparison, she said the UK courts shielded Heard from Depp in another case.

“When I appeared before a judge in the UK, I was vindicated by a strong, impartial and fair system, where I was protected from having to give the worst moments of my testimony before the world’s media, and where the court found that I suffered domestic and sexual abuse,” she wrote.

Heard is referring to a 2020 UK court ruling in a non-criminal case that ruled against Depp’s claims that the tabloid, The sun, has committed defamation for calling the actor a “wife beater”. The judge concluded that this The sunwas essentially true and that 12 of Heard’s 14 allegations of episodes of physical assault were justifiable.

This summer’s US libel case that unfolded for weeks in Fairfax, Va., centered on an op-ed by Heard in the Washington Postwhich Depp called false and defamatory.

Heard’s 2018 editorial in The Washington Post was titled: “I spoke out against sexual violence – and faced the wrath of our culture. This must change.” She did not specifically name her ex-husband in the op-ed, in which Heard called for a change in how the United States treats victims of abuse and urged support for the Violence Against Victims Act. women.

Depp claimed in her 2019 court complaints, “the editorial was clearly about … the alleged victimization of Ms Heard after she publicly accused her former husband, Johnny Depp, of domestic violence in 2016, when she appeared in court with an apparently beaten face and obtained a temporary restraining order against Mr. Depp.”

The libel case, which was broadcast live, eventually became a vehicle for debate over who the public found most credible. This also played out on social networks.

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Heard and Depp wed in February 2015. Just over a year later, Heard filed for divorce in May 2016. When the two settled their divorce in 2017, the agreement reportedly included a stipulation in which they agreed not to discuss their relationship in public. .

The libel case eventually became a vehicle for debate over who the public found more credible: Depp or Heard. The trial, which was streamed live, unfolded on social media, with users breaking down the sometimes shocking details of the case which also highlighted the virulent relationship between the two Hollywood stars.

Heard wrote in her Instagram post on Monday, “I stood up for my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed. Social media vilification is an amplified version of how women are re-victimized when they come forward.”