Amber Heard Settles Defamation Case With Johnny Depp And Says She "Lost Faith In The American Legal System"

The whole world watched as Amber Heard and Johnny Depp went through one of the messiest divorces that has ever emerged from Hollywood. Heard accused her ex of domestically abusing her, but it was discovered that she staged a crime scene to make it look like Depp physically assaulted her. Ultimately, the jury ruled in favor of Depp and he was awarded $15 million in compensation from Heard.

Amber Heard Settles Defamation Case with Johnny Depp and Says She "Lost Faith in the American Legal System"

In an Instagram post on Monday, Heard announces that she has decided to settle the defamation case rather than continue fighting in court, as the ex-couple has been caught in a legal battle for the better part of a year. She wrote a long note describing why she decided to make this choice and how it has impacted her life.

"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 writes. "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."

"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 emphasizes that she has "made no admission" and this is "not an act on concession." Heard adds, "I make this decision having lost faith in the American legal system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder."

Heard says the trial she faced in the UK, where Depp lost a libel case against the Sun after Heard claimed he beat her, was "impartial and fair," and she was "protected from having to give the worst moments of my testimony in front of the world's media." That wasn't the case in the US, though, where she exhausted all her resources and "was subjected to a courtroom in which abundant, direct evidence that corroborated my testimony was excluded." She also said "popularity and power mattered more than reason and due process."

She hopes to find some healing after finally closing this chapter, and she makes it clear that her voice is her "most valuable asset."

"I will not be threatened, disheartened or dissuaded by what happened from speaking the truth," she says. "No one can and no one will take that from me."

She thanked her legal team and everyone who supported her. The comments have been limited on the post and it has received nearly 40,000 likes already.