Amber Heard Pays Johnny Depp $1M in Defamation Arbitration

Amber Heard has agreed to pay her ex-husband Johnny Depp $1million to settle his defamation lawsuit against her – ending the feuding couple’s high-profile legal battle.

The 36-year-old actress announced the “very difficult decision” to reach a settlement in a statement on Instagram Monday and said she had withdrawn her appeal against the verdict against her because she felt the “humiliation” of a retrial couldn’t bear.

“It’s important for me to say that I never chose that,” Heard wrote. “I defended my truth and in the process my life as I knew it was destroyed.”

The payment — just a fraction of the more than $10 million in damages she had to pay Depp — will reportedly come from her insurance company, not her own personal funds.

Heard said the seven-figure settlement – reported by TMZ – was not an admission of guilt related to wild allegations made by Depp, 59, in a sensational six-week televised trial earlier this year.

A Fairfax, Virginia jury found in June that Heard had defamed Depp by writing a Washington Post op-ed saying she was a domestic violence survivor. Heard didn’t mention Depp by name in the piece.

The Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing Heard for $50 million, claiming he was the victim of abuse in their relationship, as he accused his ex-wife of defecating on their bed and giving him part of his finger in a drunken fight lose .

Heard, who was also awarded $2 million after the jury found she was defamed by one of Depp’s attorneys, continued to deny defamation of the actor and said Monday that her plight for abuse victims was a step backwards.

“I defended my truth and in the process my life as I knew it was destroyed. The slander I’ve faced on social media is an amplified version of how women are being victimized again [sic] when they get in touch,” the Aquaman actress wrote.

“Now I finally have the opportunity to emancipate myself from something I tried to leave over six years ago, on terms I can agree to,” the lengthy statement continued.

“It’s not a concession. There are no restrictions or gags regarding my voice moving forward.”

Instagram / @amberheard

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Instagram / @amberheard

Instagram / @amberheard

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The racy trial came two years after Depp lost a libel case against The Sun in the UK after Heard provided evidence to the newspaper to support claims he had punched her.

Heard said the trial was “robust, impartial and fair,” but maintained that “popularity and power count for more than common sense and due process” in the US courtroom.

“I will not be threatened, discouraged or dissuaded from speaking the truth by what has happened,” the statement said. “Nobody can and nobody will take that away from me. My voice will always be the most valuable asset I have.”