The most surprising reaction to Amber Heard's defeat by Johnny Depp came from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

When Heard protested via Twitter on Wednesday after the defamation trial against her former husband that she was not only personally disappointed, but also feared for women's rights and freedom of expression in the United States, the organization remained silent.

As it became known during the six weeks of the trial, the ACLU had written the opinion piece for the "Washington Post" in which the actress presented herself between the lines as Depp's victim at the end of 2018 - and after the jury's decision she now has more than eight Millions of dollars in damages.

The New York civil rights organization seems to have recognized after the legal battle in Fairfax (Virginia) that Heard, formerly stylized by the ACLU as an "ambassador for women's rights with a focus on gender-based violence", is not suitable as a figurehead.

During the trial, millions of users on social media had accused the 36-year-old of hypocrisy, lies and viciousness against Depp.

Everything changed with Depp

The up-and-coming star from Texas actually offered itself as a figurehead.

The daughter of a computer scientist and a contractor, she grew up on a horse farm near Austin and attended private Catholic schools.

As Heard told the jury, she moved to New York and then to Los Angeles when she was 17 to work as a model and actress.

Until her breakthrough in Hollywood with the films "The Fighters" and "Ananas Express" in 2008, she played smaller parts or stood in front of the camera for short films.

Director Jonathan Levine, who cast Heard in the horror film All The Boys Love Mandy Lane, praised her for a mixture of beauty and natural intelligence.

Everything changed with Depp, whom she met in 2009 while filming the novel adaptation "The Rum Diary".

At the side of the 58-year-old crowd puller, the actress experienced a high in Hollywood with red carpets, private jets and luxury properties.

She withdrew after splitting in May 2016 over alleged verbal, physical, and sexual assaults by Depp.

The comeback followed two and a half years later as Mera in the comic adaptation Aquaman and, timed to coincide with the premiere by the civil rights organization ACLU, with the opinion piece in the Washington Post.

Was that it in Hollywood now?

Heard's planned liberation failed to materialize.

The majority of the $7 million settlement Depp paid her in the divorce is said to have been invested in attorneys' fees after the mutual defamation lawsuits.

She also spent the majority of the fee for "Aquaman", at least three million dollars, on legal support.

For a modest $600,000, Heard bought a house in the desert town of Yucca Valley, about 200 kilometers from Los Angeles.

Many industry observers believe it is unlikely that her Hollywood career will recover from the defamation lawsuit, partly because she lied in court about donations to the ACLU and a children's hospital in Los Angeles.

As her attorney Elaine Bredehoft told NBC on Thursday, her client also lacked the funds to pay the jury-determined damages to Depp.

An appeal against the judgment in Fairfax is already in preparation.

The lawyer, she made it clear, still believes in a victory.

And to Heart.