Amber Heard’s Net Worth – How Has It Changed Since The Johnny Depp Trial?
Amber Heard's net worth was reported to be negative six million or -$6 million dollars following her trial with Johnny Depp.
To say that Amber Heard, her net worth and financial status are a bit of a mess these days would be somewhat of an understatement. With the explosive six-week trial between Heard and her ex-husband Johnny Depp coming to a somewhat startling conclusion on June 1, 2022, Heard’s finances took a massive hit when she was found guilty of defamation and ordered to hand over $10.4 million to Depp.
Shortly after the guilty charge, Heard’s lawyers said she was in no position to pay that amount. So, where does she stand financially and what is Amber Heard’s net worth? It’s not looking great.
AMBER HEARD’S NET WORTH WAS NEGATIVE $6 MILLION DOLLARS
To have a net worth in the negatives isn’t something you see every day. And there are a number of different things that contributed to this number.
For starters, it’s not like Amber Heard was tearing it up at the box office or on the small screen, but she wasn’t suffering either. And it was the trial versus her ex-husband that brought all her net worth earnings to light.
According to testimony given at the Depp v Heard trial, between 2013 and 2019, Heard earned a pre-tax income of $10 million.
This amount came from multiple sources of income from movie and TV salaries to her endorsements. 2019 was Heard’s highest-earning year when she brought in around $3 million. From this perspective, Amber Heard’s net worth had been on the rise.
Trial testimony showed that Amber Heard was on a four-picture deal with Warner Bros. that paid her $450,000 for the first of those four films. Amber Heard’s salary related to her net worth increased to $1 million when she went to work on the first Aquaman film.
Her contract then guaranteed her a $2 million payday for the Aquaman sequel (Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom) and if there was going to be a third Aquaman film, she would be guaranteed $3-4 million. For the Aquaman franchise, Amber Heard’s net worth was going in the correct direction.
Amber Heard also had some television money that contributed to her net worth. She was recently seen in the TV remake of Stephen King’s The Stand. The series was nine-episodes and Heard earned $200,000 per episode, for a grand total payday of $1.8 million.
On top of that, the Depp v Heard trial testimony also showed that Amber Heard was working on a two-year L’Oreal contract that was paying her $1.625 for a guaranteed 20 days of Heard’s time.
At face value, it would appear that Amber Heard isn’t doing too bad when it comes to her professional earnings. By all accounts, she shouldn’t have any complaints other than trying to negotiate larger paydays for her film projects.
But then there is that “little” issue of being found guilty of defamation and, to date, the judge in the case not allowing her and her legal team to file an appeal.
The judge awarded Johnny Depp $15 million in damages. $10 million of that comes from compensatory damages with the additional $5 million stemming from punitive damages. Because of Virginia law that caps punitive damages, the $5 million was immediately dropped down to $350,000.
This has set Amber Heard back a whopping $10.35 million. It should be noted, though, that she was also awarded $2 million in the case, so her actual payment to Johnny Depp amounts to $8.35 million. It was then reported that her new net worth sits at minus $6 million or -$6 million dollars.
Now, there are various reports about Amber Heard’s net worth with the number sitting between $500,000 and six million. Some of that is in flux with all of her drama yet to resolve.
AMBER HEARD HAS SUBSTANTIAL LEGAL FEES AND HER ROLE IN AQUAMAN 2 HAS BEEN IN JEOPARDY
There is also a question of Amber Heard’s legal fees, which we are assuming up to this point has been quite enormous. It has been reported from numerous fronts that her legal fees have so far been covered by her homeowner’s insurance.
It is not yet known if her insurance would also be covering her fees in damages; if they do not, Amber Heard will be in a world of hurt when it comes to paying off Johnny Depp.
To solidify this point, Heard’s lawyers went on the Today Show on June 2, 2022 to speak with the show’s host, Samantha Guthrie, about the verdict and if Heard could afford the final tally. They responded without a doubt, “Oh no. Absolutely not.”
To make matters worse for Amber Heard’s net worth is the fact that her role in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom has either been significantly reduced or outright cut completely. What that does for her reported $2 million payday remains to be seen, but it does put in jeopardy the chances of her starring in a third Aquaman sequel, even though she is contractually set for a third film.
Obviously, she only needs to take a look at her ex’s “contractual guarantee” to star in Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore for the third time as Grindelwald. That role and film as well as his future in the Fantastic Beasts franchise was taken away from him based on Heard’s allegations, although he did get paid for almost appearing in the film.
In fact, Depp’s entire movie career has been greatly affected by all that is Amber Heard. For that matter, Heard’s career is taking on quite the same tone.
AMBER HEARD’S BIG BREAK CAME IN THE RUM DIARY
Amber Heard didn’t wait long to start contributing to her net worth. Shortly after she finished high school, she began appearing in music videos and TV shows like Jack & Bobby, The Mountain, and The O.C. She also grabbed roles in feature films like Friday Night Lights, SideFX, Drop Dead Sexy, and North Country.
Although Amber Heard’s career continued, she was always described, as an actress, as wooden. She has never been known to wow critics or fans with her ability to act, but more so with her exquisite looks.
After a string of films from 2006 through 2010 that included All the Boys Love Mandy Lane, Spin, Never Back Down, Pineapple Express, and The Stepfather. But it was in 2011 that Amber Heard’s name got a bit bigger.
After starring in the TV series The Playboy Club, Amber Heard got the role of Chenault in the feature film The Rum Diary, based on the novel of the same name by Hunter S. Thompson.
The film itself only received fair reviews and only grossed $30 million on its $45 million budget, making it a box office bomb, but it was more noted for the introduction of Amber Heard to Johnny Depp.
AMBER HEARD AND JOHNNY DEPP HAD A VOLATILE RELATIONSHIP
At the time, Depp was in a lengthy relationship with French actress Vanessa Paradis, with whom Depp has two children, Lily-Rose Depp and Jack Depp. Depp and Paradis had been dating since meeting on the set of their film The Ninth Gate in 1998. Rumor has it that Depp and Heard started their affair well before Depp and Paradis had broken things off for good in 2012.
It was an immediate roller coaster for Heard and Depp, largely fueled by drugs, alcohol, fights, and making up. The volatile relationship was in and out of the news and became internet fodder when they married in February 2015 in a small private ceremony.
And then they made even bigger news when Heard filed for divorce in May 2016 and obtained a restraining order against Depp at the same time. In her declaration for the restraining order, she claimed that Depp was verbally and physically abusive.
Things only go worse for the estranged couple. Shots were fired from both camps and what once was a “loving” relationship turned into an all-out battle. Heard wrote an op-ed piece for The Washington Post. The Sun called Depp a wife abuser. Lawsuits, legal actions, more slings and arrows.
The Sun won its libel case versus Depp, but the battle was far from over. Next up was Depp vs Heard in a $50 million suit Depp brought against Heard with her turning around and countersuing him for $100 million. We all know how that ended up and the damage it has since done to Amber Heard’s net worth.
Amber Heard even took to Instagram to explain to her some 5.3 million followers that she was going to be going offline for the “next several weeks” so she could deal with the Depp v Heard trial. As you can see, she went into great detail about the case.
With that in mind, Amber Heard came back to her Instagram page to express her deep disappointment with the verdict in the trial. Although everything had been presented in court, Heard claims that the “mountains of evidence still was not enough” to help her cause. You can read her lengthy description of that below.
Where Amber Heard goes from here is still up in the air. She is trying to claim her net worth is, well, worthless so she won’t be able to pay the $8.35 million of court-ordered money. She is still trying to appeal the decision, so how this ultimately ends up is anyone’s guess at this point in time. It will be interesting to see if she eventually gets to go back to court.
It will be interesting to see how Johnny Depp puts his career back together. It will also be interesting to see what Amber Heard’s career will look like after all is said and done. Or if she can get the reported negative net worth back into the positive.
