– Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have settled their acrimonious defamation case, they said Monday, with the actress agreeing to pay her former husband $1 million
In a post on Instagram, Heard said she was dropping an appeal against the $10 million payout she had been ordered to make by a jury because she “simply cannot go through” another trial.
“After a great deal of deliberation I have made a very difficult decision to settle the defamation case,”
“I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession.”
In a legal battle involving suits and countersuits, a Virginia jury found Depp and Heard both liable for defamation — but sided more strongly with the “Pirates of the Carribean” star following an intense six-week trial riding on bitterly contested allegations of domestic abuse.
Lawyers for 59-year-old Depp on Monday hailed the settlement.
“The jury’s unanimous decision and the resulting judgement in Mr. Depp’s favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place.
“The payment of $1 million — 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.”
The Texas-born Heard did not name Depp in the piece, but he sued her for implying he was a domestic abuser and sought $50 million in damages.
Heard countersued for $100 million, saying she was defamed by statements made by Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, who told the Daily Mail her abuse claims were a “hoax.”
The case, livestreamed to millions, featured lurid and intimate details about the Hollywood celebrities’ private lives.
Heard’s lawyers said following the trial that the actress did not have the resources to pay Depp the $10 million in damages.
In her Instagram post, Heard said she “defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed.
In a settlement she was granted $7 million and the issue was shelved, with the couple signing non-disparagement and non-disclosure agreements.
