Amber Heard to sell pricey gift from Elon Musk to pay Johnny Depp following trial

US actress Amber Heard testifies at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax, Virginia, on May 5, 2022. – Actor Johnny Depp is suing ex-wife Amber Heard for libel after she wrote an op-ed piece in The Washington Post in 2018 referring to herself as a public figure representing domestic abuse. (Photo by JIM LO SCALZO / POOL / POOL / AFP) (Photo by JIM LO SCALZO / POOL/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Amber Heard will have to sell an expensive gift that she once received from Elon Musk in order to pay Johnny Depp after she lost their defamation trial.

Heard used to be in a relationship with the founder of Tesla and Space X and that meant that she has been on the receiving end of many gifts from the South African billionaire.

One of these gifts was a Tesla Model X car. The electric vehicle can go 628km on a single charge and it boasts 1,200 horsepower. Despite being quite a big car, it can do 0 to 100km/h in 2.1 seconds and has a top speed of 250km/h.

There has been controversy in the past as to whether she brought the car herself given she is an actress who can afford such things, or if it was indeed a gift from Musk. Given it is the fully equipped version of the car, it is worth around 130,000 US dollars.

The judge in the defamation trial between Depp and Heard ruled that a 2018 Washington Post editorial that Heard penned did defame the Pirates of the Caribbean star.

The jurors’ unanimous decision capped a seven-week trial in a Virginia courtroom which featured dozens of witnesses and experts weighing in on whether Depp was abusive to Heard – or vice versa – during their 15-month marriage.

Depp was awarded 15 million dollars but that was later reduced to 10.35 million dollars because of a limit to punitive damages under state law.

Heard won on one count of her countersuit, in which she demanded $100m and argued she was defamed by a Depp press agent who called her allegations “an abuse hoax” aimed at capitalising on the Me Too movement. She was awarded $2m.

[via]