Amber Heard, Johnny Depp case settlement sends negative message to abuse victims

Amber Heard settling the defamation case with ex-husband Johnny Depp could send a negative message to all the domestic abuse victims.

A legal expert told Newsweek that the Aquaman star is setting a bad example for people who have gone through a similar situation from seeking justice.

"Amber Heard was very clear in her statement about why she settled. Heard did not want to prolong a process that had already proved very painful," Carl Tobias said.

"Heard's experience may lead other survivors of abuse to think very seriously about pursuing similar cases, because of the difficulties that she and others have encountered," Tobias added.

Heard settled the libel case with the Pirates of the Caribbean actor as she will pay him $1 million in compensatory damages.

In an Instagram post that the actor shared on Monday morning, she wrote that agreeing to the settlement was “a very difficult decision”.

"It's important for me to say that I never chose this. I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed,” she penned.

“The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are re-victimized when they come forward.

Now I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to."