Amber Heard Settles Defamation Case With Johnny Depp

Amber Heard has ended her fight with Johnny Depp in the American court system.

Heard, who recently was publicly dragged through the mud when her ex-husband Depp sued her for defamation over an op-ed she wrote describing herself as a victim of domestic violence.

"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 on Instagram.

"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 continued. "The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are re-victimised when they come forward."

"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," she concluded. "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."

Heard said she has "lost faith in the American Legal system" after the trial.

"When I stood before a judge int he UK, I was vindicated by a robust, impartial, and fair system, where I was protected from having to give the worst moments of my testimony in front of the world's media, and where the court found that I was subjected to domestic and sexual violence," she said.

"In the US, however, 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."

She continued, saying the psychological, physical, emotional, and financial price of the fight was becoming too high.

"Women shouldn't have to face abuse or bankruptcy for speaking her truth, but unfortunately it is not uncommon," she wrote. "I will not be threatened, disheartened, or dissuaded by what happened from speaking the truth. No one can and no one will take that from me. My voice forever remains the most valuable asset I have."

In the recent trial, Depp had sued Heard, accusing her of defaming him in a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post where she described being a victim of domestic violence.

After a court case that focused more on smearing Heard's name than proving that Depp didn't abuse anyone, the jury found in favor of Depp, awarding him $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages, which was reduced to $350,000 by a judge. The jury also awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages.

Now, hopefully, Heard can find some peace.

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