Amber Heard says she won’t use her voice again after Johnny Depp trial

Amber heard weighed in on the impact of her disastrous 2022 defamation trial with her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.

Having moved to Spain following the high-profile case, the 39-year-old actress still appears to be in shock as she feels she has “lost the ability to speak”.

Amber Heard is not the only one to have left the trial marked, since Johnny Depp had previously called himself an “asshole” for having fallen in love with her.

Amber Heard says she lost ability to speak out following defamation lawsuit

Heard has been candid about the impact of her defamation trial with Depp in 2022, explaining that she has since lost the ability to speak.

The “Aquaman” actress made headlines around the world when she clashed with her ex-husband after he sued her for defamation over her editorial denouncing domestic violence.

She ended up losing and was ordered to pay him $10 million in compensatory damages, as well as $350,000 in punitive damages.

Appearing for the premiere of new documentary “Silenced” at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, Heard addressed the subject, explaining how it literally forced her into silence.

“It’s not about me. I’ve lost my ability to speak. I’m not here to tell my story,” Heard lamented in a confessional for the documentary, according to Variety.

“I actually don’t want to use my voice anymore. That’s the problem,” the actress added.

Amber Heard References Johnny Depp’s Lost UK Lawsuit Over ‘Wife Beater’ Claim in New Project

The documentary, which focuses on how defamation suits are increasingly used to silence survivors of gender-based violence, marks one of the first times Heard has spoken publicly about the case since her legal feud with Depp ended in 2022.

After the trial, the “Never Back Down” actress largely withdrew from the public eye and has since moved to Madrid, Spain, to raise her three children.

In her latest project, Heard referenced the libel case Depp lost in the UK after suing The Sun for claiming he was a “wife beater”.

“The outcome of this trial depended on my participation, and I depended on the outcome of this trial,” Heard recalled.

“When I first met [Robinson]I immediately had the feeling that she had the big picture. What happened to me is an amplified version of what many women experience,” she continued, referring to Jennifer Robinson, the international human rights lawyer who assisted her in the case at the time.

Amber Heard says she was vilified for coming forward

The actress took to her social media account to issue a statement after she and Depp reached an agreement requiring her to pay $1 million, a sum the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star donated to five charities.

“After much deliberation, I have made the very difficult decision to settle the defamation case brought against me by my ex-husband in Virginia,” she wrote at the time. “It’s important for me to say that I never chose this. I stood up for my truth, and in doing so, my life as I knew it was destroyed.”

Heard continued: “The smear I’ve faced on social media is an amplified version of how women are re-victimized when they come forward.”

“Now I finally have the opportunity to break free from something I tried to leave more than six years ago and on terms I can accept,” she added. “I have not made any confession. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags regarding my voice in the future.”

Johnny Depp opened up about how his past relationships shaped his view of ‘love’

Heard isn’t the only one who has been affected by the lawsuit, as Depp has previously spoken out about how his past relationships shaped his views on “love” and how it affected his relationship with the actress.

The couple met in 2011 before getting married in 2015. However, their marriage didn’t last long as they ended it just over a year later.

“So what were my first relationships with what we call ‘love’?” Depp said, according to Sunday time. “Clearly obtuse.”

“And what that means is if you’re an idiot like me, sometimes you look into a person’s eyes and see sadness, a lonely thing, and you feel like you can help that person,” he continued.

“But no good deed goes unpunished, because there are those who, when you try to love them and help them, will begin to make you understand what that discomfort, that disturbance was in their eyes. It manifests itself in other ways,” Depp added. “And what’s interesting is that it’s just a part of my life that I’ve chosen to explore.”

Actor says he has no ‘reserve of hatred’ for Amber Heard

In 2024, Depp hinted at how he felt about his ex-wife, Heard, as he shared a message of healing and didn’t want the “baggage” of openly resenting anyone with The Hollywood Reporter.

The actor was asked to respond to a statement he made about how his life “turned into a soap opera” and whether he still felt that way.

In response, Depp said: “Honestly, I can sit here right this second and think about all the hits and how everyone was against me, and yeah, yeah, yeah, he’s off the map…endless stuff.”

“I remember everything. I experienced everything. Some moments weren’t the greatest, some were hilarious. Some were crazy. The problem is, it just was, and it just is. So, for me, it happened. I learned, man,” Depp continued.

“Everything we go through, whether you’re given a snow cone or walking your dog, you learn something along the way,” he added. “So I don’t have any resentment towards anyone. I don’t have this big reserve of hatred because hatred requires attention. Why carry that baggage?”

Since their split and legal drama, Depp and Heard have both moved on in their lives and careers, and Depp is rumored to have a big Hollywood comeback in the works.