Amber Heard has stepped back into the spotlight after her highly publicized defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp. Her upcoming movie, In the Fire, comes after her return, in which she explains how her hardships don’t define her. “You know, I just want to make movies and be appreciated as an actress,” she told Deadline in a June 26 interview. “I don’t want to have to be crucified to be appreciated as one.” Despite this, Heard indicated that her projects may not always be the center of attention. “I’m in control for the most part of what comes out of my mouth,” she said. “What I’m not in control is how my pride in this project and all we put into this film can be surrounded by clips of other stuff. That’s a big thing I had to learn, that I’m not in control of stories other people create around me. That’s something that probably I’ll appreciate as a blessing further down the line.” While still grappling with a new reality of her life in the public eye, Heard asserted, “Right now, I just kind of want to not have, you know, stones thrown at me so much.” She explained to Deadline, “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.”
“I’m not telling you I have this amazing film career, but what I have is something that I’ve made, myself, and it has given me a lot to be able to contribute,” said Heard. “The odds of that in this industry are really improbably but somehow, here I am. I think I’ve earned respect for that to be its own thing. That’s substantial enough. What I have been through, what I’ve lived through, doesn’t make my career at all. And it’s certainly not gonna stop my career.” At the Taormina Film Festival, Heard was back on the red carpet for the premiere of In the Fire on June 23. “Thank you for such an incredibly warm reception at the Taormina Film festival for my latest movie In the Fire,” she wrote via her Instagram account on June 30. “It was an unforgettable weekend.”
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Heard’s latest appearance comes after years of legal issues with Depp, which began in London in 2020. Her testimony at that time indicated that Depp verbally and physically assaulted her, but Depp denied he ever did so. A judge ruled against Depp, and he was denied an appeal. It was in April 2022 that Depp sued Heard over an op-ed she wrote in the Washington Post in which, without naming her ex, the Aquaman actor drew attention to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” A Virginia jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages in the lawsuit after finding that Heard had defamed the Pirates of the Caribbean star. Heard, who countersued Depp, was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages as well. As of December, the case had been settled.
