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Topics: Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Celebrity, News
Rachel Lang
Johnny Depp is eager to 'close the door' on the chapter of his life, which became a bitter courtroom drama with ex-wife Amber Heard.
Lawyers for Depp, 59, revealed that the Pirates of the Caribbean star would donate the USD$1 million (AUD$ 1.5 million, £823,000) from his settlement with Heard to a number of different charities.
"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," Depp's legal team wrote in a statement, as per People.
"The jury's unanimous decision and the resulting judgement in Mr. Depp's favour against Ms. Heard remain fully in place," the attorneys added.
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"The payment of $1M - which Mr. Depp is pledging and will (actually) donate to charities - reinforces Ms. Heard's acknowledgement of the conclusion of the legal system's rigorous pursuit for justice."
The million-dollar settlement, which Heard's insurance company will pay, now ends the venomous dispute between the two stars.
In a statement of her own, Heard stressed the settlement is not an admission of guilt but instead a last-resort effort to move on.
"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," the 36-year-old said.
"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 added: "I have made no admission [of guilt]. This is not an act of concession."
Depp sued the Aquaman star over an op-ed that appeared in The Washington Post in 2018.
The article was entitled: "I spoke up against sexual violence - and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change."
The emotional, multimillion-dollar court case wrapped up on 1 June 2022, with the jury finding that Heard did, in fact, defame her ex-partner Johnny Depp with the op-ed.
Heard filed for an appeal on November 23 ahead of Thanksgiving.
That, however, will not go forward, thanks to the divorced duo's out-of-court settlement.