Washington:
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have resolved their bitter defamation lawsuit, they said Monday, with the actress agreeing to pay her former husband $1 million for claims he physically abused her.
In a post on Instagram, Heard said she dropped an appeal against the $10 million payout she was supposed to make from a jury because she “simply can’t go through another process.”
“After much deliberation, I have made a very difficult decision to settle the defamation case,” she said.
“I am making this decision because I have lost faith in the US justice system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and fodder for social media,” said the 36-year-old.
“Now I finally have a chance to free myself from something I tried to leave more than six years ago and on terms I can agree to,” she said. ‘I have not conceded anything. This is not an act of concession.”
In a legal battle of lawsuits and countersuits, a jury from Virginia found Depp and Heard both liable for libel, but more strongly sided with the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star after an intense six-week trial on bitterly disputed domestic violence charges .
The jury awarded Depp $10.35 million in damages and Heard $2 million.
Lawyers for 59-year-old Depp welcomed the settlement on Monday.
“We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made it clear throughout this process that his priority was to expose the truth,” said attorneys Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez.
“The unanimous decision of the jury and resulting verdict in favor of Mr. Depp against Ms. Heard remains in full force.
“The $1 million payment – which Mr. Depp pledges and will (actually) donate to charitable causes – reinforces Ms. Heard’s acknowledgment of the conclusion of the justice system’s rigorous pursuit of justice.”
– ‘Defended my truth’ –
Depp sued Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018, in which she described herself as a “public figure representing domestic violence.”
Texas native Heard did not name Depp in the piece, but he sued her for suggesting he was a domestic abuser and sought $50 million in damages.
Heard opposed $100 million, saying she was defamed by statements from Depp’s lawyer, Adam Waldman, who told the Daily Mail that her abuse claims were a “hoax”.
The case, streamed live to millions, contained lurid and intimate details about the private lives of the Hollywood celebrities.
Heard’s lawyers said after the trial that the actress did not have the funds to pay Depp the $10 million in damages.
In her Instagram post, Heard said she was “defending my truth, thereby destroying my life as I knew it.
“The defamation I have faced on social media is an amplified version of how women are victimized again when they come forward,” she said.
“I was subjected to a kind of humiliation that I just can’t relive.
“Even if my appeal is successful in the US, the best outcome would be a new trial where a new jury would have to re-consider the evidence,” she said. “I just can’t go through that a third time.”
Entertainment outlet Variety said that in 2016, Heard had initially filed a domestic violence complaint during her divorce from the “Edward Scissorhands” star.
In a settlement, she was awarded $7 million and the matter was shelved, with the pair signing confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by DailyExpertNews staff and is being published from a syndicated feed.)
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