Amber Heard has taken to Instagram to announce that she will be settling her highly-publicized legal battle with Johnny Depp, stating that it has "destroyed her life."
The 36-year-old actress has been involved in several tense legal disputes with her ex-husband Depp after the end of their tumultuous relationship in 2017.
Earlier this year, both parties were engaged in a bitter court case after 59-year-old Depp sued Heard for defamation - arguing that an op-ed she penned for The Washington Post in 2018 had falsely painted him as an abusive partner.
After almost a month of testimony and expert evidence, the judge ruled in favor of Depp in June, awarding him $15 million in damages. Heard won one of her counterclaims against her former husband and was awarded $2 million.
Following her loss, Heard chose to file an appeal in the Los Angeles Appellate Court on November 23, arguing that there had been several errors in the trial - including that Heard had been improperly barred from submitting certain pieces of evidence, per CNN.
Now, the Aquaman actress and mom-of-one has revealed that she will be settling the case, and is therefore no longer seeking an appeal.
In her Instagram statement, Heard wrote to her 5.3 million followers: "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 [...] 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," she added.
The Rum Diary star continued: "I make this decision having lost faith in the American legal system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder [...] time is precious and I was to spend my time productively and purposefully."
In the wake of her now-infamous trial with Depp, Heard has reportedly been living with her daughter in Mallorca, Spain. According to a report from The Daily Mail, locals in the small village where she lives have described her as being "very polite" and that she "doesn't bother anyone."
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