Amber Heard Makes Red Carpet Return One Year After Johnny Depp Trial

Amber Heard is back in the spotlight and all smiles.

The Aquaman actress attended the world premiere of her latest project, the movie In the Fire, at the Taormina Film Festival in Italy June 23. It marked her first red carpet event since she her and ex-husband Johnny Depp's televised defamation trial came to an end a little more than a year ago.

Heard, 37, wore a black caped maxi dress with matching platform sandals and wore her long blonde hair down in curls as she smiled for pics on the carpet—technically teal—alone and with co-stars such as Luca Calvani, Eduardo Noriega and Yari Gugliucci their director, Conor Allyn, as well as actor William "Billy" Baldwin, who attended the festival to promote the animated comedy Billie's Magic World (which also features his brother Alec Baldwin).

Heard also appeared to be in great spirits while taking selfies with fans and signing autographs. 

In the Fire stars the actress as doctor who travels to a remote plantation in the 1890s to treat a boy with unexplained abilities who the local priest believes is possessed by the Devil.

The movie, which has no release date, is the last acting project that Heard shot and was filmed in Italy in early 2022, months before her and Depp's defamation trial began that April. She also reprises her role of Mera in the upcoming Aquaman sequel, which was filmed in 2021 and is set for release Dec. 20.

After the trial concluded June 1, 2022, Heard largely kept away from the public eye. But this past May, the actress began to be photographed in Madrid. Speaking Spanish, she has told local paparazzi numerous times that she loves living in Spain.

The trial had ended with a victory for Depp, who made his own red carpet return this past May at premiere of the film Jeanne du Barry at the Cannes Film Festival.

Depp had sued Heard for $50 million. A jury determined that the actress was liable for defaming the actor with a 2018 Washington Post op-ed bearing her byline, which stated that "two years ago, I became a public figure representing domestic abuse." While the actor was not named, Heard had publicly accused him in a 2016 restraining order of domestic violence and he denied the allegations at the time.

Following the jury's verdict, Amber was ordered to pay Depp more than $10 million in damages. Heard, who called the ruling a "setback" for women, did score a small victory of her own following a $100 million countersuit against the actor. Simultaneously, the jury ordered Depp to pay her $2 million because his lawyer had accused her of perpetrating a "hoax."

Both actors appealed their verdicts but ultimately dropped their appeals to settle the case last December, with Amber agreeing to pay her ex $1 million. Earlier this month, a source close to the Pirates of the Caribbean star told E! News that Depp plans to donate the money to five charities.

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