SEE IT: Amber Heard announces settlement in court battle with ex-lover Johnny Depp
Maria Leaf
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The defamation trial between actors Amber Heard and Johnny Depp captivated the world in 2022. Now, it appears talks of a retrial in 2023 are over.
Last June, a jury in Fairfax, Virginia, ruled Heard defamed Depp in a 2018 op-ed, ordering her to pay the actor damages amounting to $15 million. The jury also decided Depp defamed Heard and ordered him to pay her $2 million.
Heard took to Instagram Monday to announce she was not going to continue the legal fight against Depp.
“After a great deal of deliberation I have made a very difficult decision to settle the defamation case brought against me by my ex-husband in Virginia,” Heard wrote. “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.”
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Heard added that harassment on social media played a part in her decision.
“Now I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to.”
Details of those terms have not been made public.
Earlier this month, Heard announced her lawyers filed an appeal to have the verdict thrown out.
“The resulting jury verdict against Heard on all of Depp’s claims cannot be reconciled with the jury verdict against Depp on Heard’s counterclaim. To find in favor of Depp, the jury must have concluded that Depp did not abuse Heard and that Heard knowingly lied in accusing him of abuse. But, to find in favor of Heard, the jury must have concluded that Heard told the truth about being a victim of domestic abuse by Depp. Accordingly, the verdict against Heard cannot stand,” court documents stated.
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Heard stressed the decision to settle is not an admission of guilt.
“This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward.”
What is not clear at this point is whether Depp will proceed with his appeal of the verdict.