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Credit: Inside the MagicAmber Heard and Johnny Depp are no longer married or in an active court battle, but they just managed to severe international criminal charges.
The Amber Heard-Johnny Depp defamation trial was one of the biggest news stories of 2022, pitting the up-and-coming DCEU actor against her estranged former husband and Pirates of the Caribbean star. After months of highly publicized deliberations, celebrity witnesses, and allegations of abuse, both won damages against each other, albeit with Depp being awarded millions more.
Since then, both Amber Heard and Johnny Depp have kept comparatively low profiles, which makes sense for two people who were essentially charged in the court of social media for a year. Depp has been touring with his band Hollywood Vampires (featuring Alice Cooper) while increasingly showing signs of public instability and poor health.
However, Amber Heard was still facing actual criminal charges in the country of Australia, which have been abruptly dropped.
Related: Johnny Depp Confirms New Movie, Proving Himself to Disney
Johnny Depp, Amber Heard, Pistol, and Boo
All the way back in 2015, Amber Heard and Johnny Depp became the center of a global biosecurity scandal when the then-couple were caught attempting to smuggle two animals into the tightly controlled nation of Australia.
Specifically, the stars brought their dogs Pistol and Boo with them to Australia’s Gold Coast while Depp was filming Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales (2017). The two failed to declare the animals in customs, a serious crime in Australia.
At various times, it appeared both Johnny Depp and Amber Heard could be charged with providing a false immigration document, which would carry a maximum penalty of a year in jail and a fine of more than 10,000 Australian dollars.
Additionally, the dogs themselves were under threat of euthanasia before being flown out mere hours before they were scheduled to be put down.
Eventually, only Amber Heard was charged, but the investigation has remained open since then. Only recently did Australia’s Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions (via the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) announce that any charges for the illegal smuggling would be dropped (per AP News).
Conflicting Reports in Australia
The incident was further complicated by differing reports of exactly what occurred.
Amber Heard’s lawyer claimed that the Aquaman star simply did not know Australian laws and had assumed one of her employees took care of it. However, in 2020, a former employee of Johnny Depp testified that she had been repeatedly warned about declaring the dogs, ignored it, and pressured another employee to take the fall for the quarantine issues.
Related: Johnny Depp’s Return as Jack Sparrow in ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 6’ May Save Disney Studios
Whatever might have actually gone down in Australia with Amber Heard, Johnny Depp, and their dogs (who now solely belong to Heard), the nation of Australia appears to be unwilling to spend more time and money on the issue. One more legal issue settled for Depp and heard.
Do you think Amber Heard should have gotten away with breaking quarantine laws? Let us know in the comments below.