Where Is Amber Heard Now? All About Her Private Life in Spain After Johnny Depp Defamation Trial

Amber Heard is moving on following the defamation trial between her and her ex-husband Johnny Depp.

In May 2016, Heard, then 30, filed for divorce from Depp, then 52. She also filed for a restraining order against him, alleging that he was verbally and physically abusive throughout their relationship and accusing him of substance abuse. Depp vehemently denied the allegations, and by August 2016, he agreed to a $7 million divorce settlement, which Heard pledged to charity, plus $500,000 toward Heard’s legal fees. Their divorce was finalized in January 2017.

In 2019, Depp sued Heard for defamation following a December 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post in which Heard referred to herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse” but never mentioned Depp by name.

The resulting six-week trial, which kicked off in June 2022, was a shocking public ordeal that exposed private details about the former couple’s marriage, divorce, finances and other relationships (including Heard’s erstwhile romance with Elon Musk), while also threatening to end their careers.

The controversial trial concluded with a verdict that ultimately fell more in Depp’s favor: Depp won all three defamation claims against Heard, and the jury awarded him more than $10 million in damages. The jury also awarded Heard $2 million for her counterclaim against Depp.

In a statement Heard released on the day of the verdict, she said in part that she felt “disappointment … beyond words,” adding that she was “heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway” of her ex.

Since the trial ended, Heard, now 38, largely retreated from the public eye, moving away from her home in California to Spain with her daughter in search of privacy after the highly publicized trial.

“The trial was beyond stressful, and she wanted to start fresh,” a source told PEOPLE in April 2023.

More than one year after the explosive case’s conclusion, here’s a look at the aftermath of the defamation trial and what Heard has been up to since.

Where is Amber Heard living now?

After living in the desert town of Yucca Valley, California, Heard sold her home for $1.1 million and moved to Europe with her daughter, Oonagh Paige. An insider told PEOPLE that Heard left the U.S. because she felt there was “too much chaos” stateside.

Heard “lost the case and was treated as such,” a film source told people of her retreat from the public eye. “She felt like a pariah.”

In search of privacy, Heard first moved to a rental on the island of Mallorca, Spain, where she went by the name Martha Jane Cannary — the real name of legendary gunslinger Calamity Jane — before planting her roots in Madrid.

A source told PEOPLE in November 2022 that Heard “is able to just be a mom there. She is focused on raising her daughter. She spends every day with her girl. They stroll around, visit parks and enjoy family time. Amber is a great mom.”

In a TikTok video posted in May 2023, Heard, who is fluent in Spanish, told local reporters that she “loves living” in the country and plans to stay there.

According to insiders, Heard is working on putting the trauma of the case behind her. “Amber was devastated before, during and after the trial. But she is better now,” a film source said.

Meanwhile, another source close to Heard told PEOPLE that the actress is focused on the future: “She is excited about working and filming again. She was exhausted and disappointed about the trial. She felt she was mistreated.”

The insider added: “This is all behind her now, though. She has new energy and is focused on things that she loves.”

Heard was spotted out for a jog in Madrid in early April 2024, where she was seeing wearing a matching navy blue athletic set.

How much did Amber Heard pay Johnny Depp after the defamation trial?

Following the defamation trial’s conclusion on June 1, 2022, a jury in Fairfax, Virginia, awarded Depp $15 million in damages. Judge Penney Azcarate reduced the amount to $10.35 million, as the original amount exceeded Virginia’s maximum on punitive damages.

The jury also awarded $2 million to Heard for one of her three counterclaims against Depp. In the countersuit, Heard alleged that Depp’s attorney Adam Waldman defamed her by accusing her and her friends of concocting an “abuse hoax” against Depp.

After the jury’s ruling, Heard hired new attorneys and requested a mistrial and appeal. (Depp also appealed Heard’s counterclaim victory.)

In a November 2022 appellate court filing, Heard’s legal team questioned why the trial took place in Virginia instead of California — where both Heard, Depp and most of their witnesses primarily lived — and why Depp’s lawsuit was allowed to proceed at all following the U.K. libel ruling against him. (In 2020, Depp lost a libel suit against a U.K. tabloid that referred to the Pirates of the Caribbean star as a “wife beater.”)

Her attorneys also argued that the verdict would have a “chilling effect on other women who wish to speak about abuse involving powerful men” and that Heard’s claims in her op-ed were “non-actionable expressions of opinion.”

In December 2022, Heard announced that she was dropping her appeal and settling with Depp. While the initial jury ruling in the defamation trial called for more than $10 million in damages, Heard settled with Depp for $1 million, Depp’s attorneys confirmed to PEOPLE. Depp pledged to donate the sum to five charities. Heard’s payment was issued in June 2023.

Is Amber Heard in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom?

Heard will reprise her role as Queen Mera in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, set for a December 2023 release. During the defamation trial, Heard said on the stand that she “fought really hard” to stay in the sequel, but that despite being a lead alongside Jason Momoa in the first Aquaman, her role was “pared down” in The Lost Kingdom because of the controversy surrounding Depp’s lawsuit.

Heard’s agent, Jessica Kovacevic, testified that she was told the shrinking of the role was due to a lack of chemistry with Momoa, but she believed it was due to the negative attention the lawsuit generated.

Walter Hamada, then-president of DC Films, denied Heard’s claim in a taped deposition, however, saying that the sequel was planned to be a “buddy comedy” between Momoa’s and Patrick Wilson’s characters.

In July 2021, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom producer Peter Safran told Deadline that despite pressure from fans, including a long-running petition, the production team never had plans to remove Heard from the film entirely. “You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s [director] James Wan and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was.”

What is Amber Heard working on?

Heard confirmed to reporters in May 2023 that she has movies on the horizon, though she didn’t give any specifics.

In June, she promoted her first project following the trial at the Taormina Film Festival. Heard walked the red carpet in support of her independent film In the Fire, in which she stars as an American psychiatrist named Grace who travels to Colombia in 1899 to treat a young boy believed to be possessed by the devil.

Heard told PEOPLE that In the Fire is “a beautiful movie about the almost supernatural effect and force of love. It is about the boundaries that love can cross and its creation, and really about the overwhelming power that love has.”

Heard filmed In the Fire after the U.K. libel trial and before the Virginia defamation trial, and her colleagues on the film said they admired her strength. Director Conor Allyn told PEOPLE that Heard has “a bright future” ahead of her in film, while her costar Luca Calvani said: “Anyone that suffers that sort of ordeal and is able to overcome it with grace … you have to give credit for the incredible journey this woman has been through, and she can teach us all a couple of things as far as resilience and courage.”

After the festival, Heard posted photos from the event on Instagram and thanked her supporters.

That same month, the actress told Deadline that her ideal career would allow her to work on a variety of different projects, from blockbusters like Aquaman to indies like In the Fire.

“The best luck you can have as an actor is to be able to balance both,” she said. “There’s something cool about that, and I think success is an actor who is able to have both those things.”