Amber Heard has settled the multi-million-dollar US defamation case with her former husband Johnny Depp, with Depp's lawyers quoting a figure of $1 million.
Heard was sued by Depp over a 2018 article she wrote for the Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse, which his lawyers said falsely accused him of being an abuser.
In June of this year, a jury at Fairfax County Court in the US state of Virginia returned a verdict in his favour, and he was awarded $10.3 million for damage to his reputation.
The jury also found that Heard was defamed by statements made by Depp's lawyer Adam Waldman, who told the Daily Mail that her abuse claims were a "hoax", and awarded her $2 million in damages. Depp has filed an appeal over that award.
On Monday, Heard said in a statement on Instagram: "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.
"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. I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."
In a later statement, Depp's lawyers Benjamin Chew and Camille Vasquez said: "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 judgment in Mr Depp's favour against Ms Heard remain fully in place.
"The payment of one million dollars - which Mr Depp is pledging and will donate to charities - reinforces Ms Heard's acknowledgement of the conclusion of the legal system's rigorous pursuit for justice."
Earlier this month, Heard sought to appeal against the verdict in her legal battle against Depp, arguing that it will have a "chilling" effect on other women.
In her statement on Monday, Heard added: "Even if my US appeal is successful, the best outcome would be a re-trial where a new jury would have to consider the evidence again. I simply cannot go through that for a third time."
"For too many years I have been caged in an arduous and expensive legal process, which has shown itself unable to protect me and my right to free speech," she said.
Depp had previously lost a similar trial in the UK that he brought against the publisher of The Sun newspaper after an article, also written in 2018, referred to him as a "wife-beater".
Source: Press Association, AFP
