Johnny Depp’s career as a Hollywood A-lister took a hit from his highly-publicized and often ugly legal battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.
The case garnered worldwide attention for six weeks during spring 2022.
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The spectacle ended with a $10.35 million judgment in favor of Depp. Heard was given $2 million in her countersuit.
After the circus, Amber Heard took a break in Spain to decompress. And it seems she has discovered a secure residence beyond the borders of the United States of America.
After a two-year marriage, and an almost seven-year relationship, courts heard alleged claims and counterclaims from Depp and Heard, that ended with a ruling in favor of Depp.
In a 2018 essay with the Washington Post, Heard referenced “sexual violence” and “domestic abuse,” and though Depp’s name was not mentioned, but hinted, he argued that his reputation had been tarnished.
Depp, 59, sued Heard for $50 million, claiming her fabrications of abuse were an attempt to get more money from him in their divorce settlement. One year later, in 2020, Heard countersued for $100 million.
The jury unanimously found that Heard’s allegations of abuse were unsubstantiated, and that she penned the op-ed piece with actual malice, awarding Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages in his defamation suit. Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and $0 in punitive damages.
Heard, of Aquaman fame, went quiet.
According to an article published in the Daily Mail (May 2023), Heard, 37, relocated to Europe. As per People magazine, Amber Heard received death threats and became the target of cruel internet memes. She expressed feeling overwhelmed by the “chaos” in the United States.
The writer, Alison Boshoff reveals “that Heard has quit Hollywood and quietly relocated to Spain with her young daughter Oonagh.
A friend said: ‘She’s bilingual in Spanish and is happy there, raising her daughter away from all the noise. ‘I don’t think she is in any hurry to return to work or to Hollywood, but she will probably come back when the time is right for the right project.’”
In 2023, The Aquaman actress was seen on the streets of Madrid amid reports that she moved to the Spanish capital for good.
In 2022, after the court’s decision, Heard sold her home in Yucca Valley, California, for $1.1million, almost twice what she paid.
She was rumored to have rented a home on the island of Majorca, where she was spotted on a beach with her girlfriend Eve Barlow, who’s back in Los Angeles working as a writer. It’s unclear if the pair are still together.
Boshoff writes, “At Christmas, Barlow appeared to suggest they had split when she posted an essay on Substack saying that she was ‘searching for optimism at the end of a life-altering year.” She added: ‘Today I was reminded of a beautiful passage from a Khalil Gibran poem about why strength has to be renourished and revitalized in ourselves, often alone.’”
Boshoff reports that Heard now lives with Oonagh, 2, in a new home outside Madrid. The mother has kept Oonagh, her child from a surrogate, out of the spotlight.
Known for starring as Mera, the princess of Xebel, in DC Comic’s Aquaman (2018), Heard reprised her role alongside Jason Momoa, in Aquaman and The Lost Kingdom, released in December 2023. It’s the last role Heard played before escaping to Europe.
And it seems that Amber might stay on the other side of the Atlantic for a long time to come.
In a TikTok video published last year, Heard responded to inquiries from local reporters on the sidewalk, expressing in Spanish, “I have so much love for Spain.” When questioned about her plans to stay, she affirmed, “Yes, I hope so. Yes, I love living here.”
Depp certainly doesn’t feel the need to escape Hollywood and we’re happy to see he’ll be filming again soon!
What do you think of Amber Heard and the defamation trial?
