One of the most famous high-profile court cases in recent memory, the Depp v. Heard defamation trial ended 14 months ago on June 1, 2022, after a rigorous 2-month live-streamed hearing of the dispute. The court sittings revealed intimate details about the tumultuous relationship between the two Hollywood actors. Their history dates back to more than a decade ago.
Amber Heard and Johnny Depp go way back to 2009 when they first met on the sets of The Rum Diary. During filming, Depp was already in a relationship and had two children with his then-partner Vannessa Paradis, a French musician and actress. However, by 2012, Depp and Paradis announced their separation after 14 years together, and someplace else, Heard also split up with Tasya van Ree, her partner of 4 years.
In a court filing, Heard wrote that she and Depp began dating “around the end of 2011 or the start of 2012,” confirming that the reason they left their exes was each other. The pair formally began dating after leaving their partners, which attracted a lot of attention from fans. After two years of dating, on Jan. 17, 2014, People Magazine published a story announcing that Depp, 50, and Heard, 27, are engaged after she was seen wearing a huge diamond engagement ring.
When giving testimony in the defamation case, Amber Heard recounted falling “head over heels in love” with her ex-husband Johnny Depp, and acknowledged that they began dating “secretly” because Depp’s separation from Vanessa Paradis was not yet public at the time. A year after their engagement, the two married in a civil ceremony at their Los Angeles mansion in Feb. 2015 (via People). However, the marriage was the start of their ugly history and everything went downhill from there.
Just 15 months after marriage, on May 23, 2026, Heard filed a petition for divorce and “cited irreconcilable differences” as the reason (via People). Less than one week after filing for divorce, she also filed a temporary restraining order against her spouse on grounds of domestic abuse charges.
The temporary restraining order was granted on May 27, 2016, and the pair reached a $7 million divorce settlement outside of court 3 months later, in Aug. 2016. On the occasion, the two released a joint statement to the press.
“Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love. Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain. There was never any intent of physical or emotional harm. Amber wishes the best for Johnny in the future. Amber will be donating financial proceeds from the divorce to a charity.”
The divorce marked the end of the pair’s 4-year relationship, including 15 months of marriage. The divorce was then followed by Heard writing an op-ed for The Washington Post in Dec. 2018, which attracted a defamation lawsuit by Depp in Feb. 2019.
The Depp-Heard trial took place in Fairfax County, Virginia between April 11 and June 1, 2022, and resulted in the jury awarding Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $350,000 million in punitive damages from Heard. On the flipside, Heard was also awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and zero in punitive damages from Depp.
Since then, Heard has moved away from the spotlight to Spain with her 2-year-old daughter, Oonah Paige. Meanwhile, Johnny Depp is set to make a comeback in Hollywood with his upcoming historical drama film Jeanne du Barry.
