Amber Heard celebrates ‘unforgettable weekend’ in first Instagram post since Johnny Depp trial

‘Aquaman’ star has remained largely out of the public eye since settling defamation trial

Amber Heard has returned to Instagram for the first time since settling her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp in December.

On Friday (30 June), the Aquaman star, 37, shared a photo of her in attendance at the world premiere of her latest movie, In the Fire.

“Thank you for such an incredibly warm reception at the Taormina Film Festival for my latest movie In the Fire. It was an unforgettable weekend,” she wrote in the caption.

Heard leads director Conor Allyn’s thriller as a New York doctor who travels to a remote plantation in the 1890s to treat a disturbed boy with inexplicable abilities.

Soon after, her presence ignites a war of science versus religion with the local priest, who believes the boy is possessed by the devil and is to blame for all of the village’s woes.

In the Fire marks the actor’s first movie since her highly publicised trial against Depp last spring, after the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, 60, sued her for defamation after she implied that Depp had abused her in a 2018 op-ed for The Washington Post.

Heard countersued Depp, alleging that by calling her claims fraudulent, Depp’s lawyers had defamed her. After six weeks in court, the jury ultimately ruled in Depp’s favour, awarding him $10m (£8m) in compensatory damages and $5m (£4m) in punitive damages. This latter amount was subsequently reduced to $350,000 (£287,000) in compliance with a statutory cap. Heard, meanwhile, was awarded $2m (£1.5m) for her countersuit.

The trial, which was televised and live-streamed online, was one of the most discussed cultural events of the year and a frequent trending topic across social media. As a result, Heard has remained largely out of the public eye for the past year.

“I’m not in control of stories other people create around me,” she told Deadline in a recent interview at the Sicilian film festival.

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“Right now, I just kind of want to not have, you know, stones thrown at me so much. So let’s get the elephant out of the room then, and just let me say that. I am an actress. I’m here to support a movie. And that’s not something I can be sued for.”