amber heard johnny depp© Photo: Getty Images

Amber Heard releases statement over settlement in Johnny Depp defamation case

The former couple have had ongoing legal disputes

Beatriz Colon - New York
New York WriterNew York
December 19, 2022

Though Amber Heard and Johnny Depp's famous defamation trial held in Fairfax County, Virginia, initially ran from 11 April to 1 June, 2022, it appears their legal dispute is just coming to an end now.

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On Monday morning, the actress announced in a statement shared on Instagram that she had made the decision to settle the defamation case brought against her by her ex-husband.

Earlier this year, a seven-person jury found that she defamed Johnny in her Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence, and he was subsequently awarded more than $10 million in damages.

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Amber detailed the difficult aftermath she faced due to the trial and the response to it in her statement, following the "very difficult decision" to settle.

"It's important for me to say that I never chose this," she wrote, adding: "I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed. The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways women are re-victimised when they come forward."

She said: "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," explaining: "I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."

The star detailed the painful process

The actress maintained: "I make this decision having lost faith in the American legal system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder."

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She compared her experiences standing before a UK judge as opposed to hers in the US, where she said: "I exhausted almost all my resources in advance of and during a trial in which I was subjected to a courtroom in which abundant, direct evidence that corroborated my testimony was excluded and in which popularity and power mattered more than reason and due process."

© Photo: Getty Images

The verdict in favor of Johnny was announced on 1 June

Amber concluded her statement by thanking her judicial team and for the growing support from not only fans, but fellow survivors of domestic abuse as well.

"I cannot find enough words to tell you the hope your belief in me inspires, not just for me, but for all of you," she wrote, ending with: "Thank you. See you soon."

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