Amber Heard’s Twitter account vanishes days after takeover by her ex Elon Musk

The Tesla founder and Amber Heard dated for about a year before calling it quits at the beginning of 2018

Amber Heard’s Twitter account appears to have been removed just days after her ex-boyfriend, Elon Musk, took ownership of the social media platform.

The American actor’s handle, @realAmberHeard, was no longer an active account on the social media platform as of Thursday, Insider reported, but it was unclear when it had been deactivated, nor were there any public statements from the Hollywood star providing an explanation for its absence.

As of September, Ms Heard’s account was active, according to the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine.

Ms Heard had last posted on the social media platform, alongside her still active Instagram account, back in June to share a statement about the outcome of the weeks-long defamation trial brought against her by her ex-husband, Johnny Depp.

“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words,” the Aquaman actress wrote in her statement, which was concurrently posted on her now-deactivated Twitter account and still active Instagram. “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex husband.”

Over the course of the highly publicised and dramatic six-week trial, the Virginia jury awarded Depp $15m in damages and his ex-wife $2m in their defamation lawsuits.

Depp’s claims of defamation were based on a 2018 op-ed published in the Washington Post, in which Ms Heard outlined claims of domestic abuse but did not ever directly mention or name her ex-husband.

While the jury had also found Depp to be liable for a statement his attorney made, in which he’d called Heard’s claims of domestic violence a hoax, the Pirates of the Caribbean star was ultimately awarded more money in the outcome.

Heard and Musk were rumoured to have gotten together sometime in 2016, though the billionaire insisted publicly that they were just friends until both their divorces were official. Musk was in the midst of finalising his divorce from then-wife Talulah Riley.

Musk and Heard dated for about a year, with the tech titan confirming during an interview with Rolling Stone at the start of 2018 that they were no longer seeing each other.

“I just broke up with my girlfriend. I was really in love and it hurt bad,” Musk said to the magazine.

While it’s unclear when Heard’s account was deactivated, or whether her ex-partner’s new ownership influenced its removal, Musk seemed to only have kind words to offer his former girlfriend at the end of last year’s contentious trial.

“I hope they both move on. At their best, they are each incredible,” Musk said at the close of the six-week trial.