Amber Heard agrees to pay Johnny Depp $1 million

Europe 1 with AFP 10:25 a.m., December 20, 2022

Actress Amber Heard announced on Monday that she has reached an agreement to end the appeal proceedings in the defamation lawsuit which opposes her in the United States to Johnny Depp, agreeing to pay her ex-husband a million dollars.

"After a long reflection I made the difficult decision to conclude an agreement", wrote the star on Instagram, without specifying the financial terms.

Amber Heard says she has lost faith in the US justice system

The 36-year-old actress had initially appealed against the verdict in June condemning her to pay 10 million dollars to the star of Pirates of the Caribbean, who in turn was to pay 2 million to Ms. Heard.

"I made this decision after losing faith in the American legal system, where my public testimony served as entertainment and gave social media food for thought," the actress added.

The lawyers of Johnny Depp, 59, welcomed the conclusion of this agreement on Monday.

"We are pleased to officially close this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who has made it clear throughout this process that his priority is getting the truth out," attorneys Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez said.

Johnny Depp pledges to donate the money to charity

"The unanimous decision of the jury and the resulting judgment in favor of Mr. Depp against Ms. Heard remain in full force," they recalled.

"The payment of one million dollars - which Mr. Depp undertakes to donate to charity, which he will actually do - demonstrates that Ms. Heard recognizes the conclusions" of justice, they added.

The legal battle between the former spouses stems from a column published by the Washington Post in 2018, in which Amber Heard described herself as "a public figure representing domestic violence", without naming her ex-husband.

Assuring that this text had destroyed his reputation and his career, Johnny Depp, 59, sued his ex-wife for defamation to obtain $ 50 million in damages.

Amber Heard had counter-attacked and asked for the double.

At the end of six weeks of debates, the jurors of the court of Fairfax, in the suburbs of Washington, had concluded that the ex-spouses had defamed each other, but had estimated that the damages suffered by Johnny Depp were greater.

The trial, highly publicized and broadcast live on television, was followed by millions of viewers around the world and provoked an outburst of messages hostile to the actress on social networks.