Johnny Depp, Amber Heard settle defamation appeals

FALLS CHURCH, Va. — Actors Johnny Depp and Amber Heard have settled their defamation lawsuits following a high-profile trial earlier this year in which the former couple accused each other of physical and verbal abuse.

Both sides had filed appeals of various aspects of the jury’s verdicts in June. The seven-person civil jury had awarded Depp $10 million in damages, but also awarded $2 million to Heard.

Depp’s lawyers said he will donate that money to charity.

“We are pleased to formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process that his priority was about bringing the truth to light. The jury’s unanimous decision and the resulting judgement in Mr. Depp’s favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place,” Depp’s lawyers, Benjamin Chew and Camille Vazquez, said.

Both sides argued to a jury in Fairfax County Circuit Court that the other had defamed them. Depp said he was libeled by Heard when she wrote a 2018 op-ed piece in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse.”

Depp’s lawyers said he was defamed by the article even though it never mentioned his name because, they argued, it clearly referenced abuse allegations Heard had made against Depp during divorce proceedings.

Heard, on the other hand, said she was defamed by Depp when one of his lawyers called her abuse allegations a “hoax.”