After her defamation case with Johnny Depp, there has been a lot of interest in Amber Heard’s net worth and whether she can afford the millions of dollars in damages she was ordered to pay him.
Heard, whose full name is Amber Laura Heard, was born on April 22, 1986, in Austin, Texas. She dropped out of high school to move to Los Angeles to pursue an acting career. Heard went on to star in movies like Friday Night Lights, North Country and Spin before her big break in the 2006’s All the Boys Love Mandy Lane. Heard’s success continued with movies like Pineapple Express, The Joneses, Zombieland and Magic Mike XXL before her debut as Mera in the D.C. Extended Universe’s Aquaman franchise in 2018.
In an interview with Deadline in 2021, producer Peter Safran explained why he decided to keep Heard for the second Aquaman movie, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, despite protests from fans of her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, to fire her from the franchise. “I don’t think we’re ever going to react to, honestly, pure fan pressure,” he said. “You gotta do what’s best for the movie. We felt that if it’s James Wan, and Jason Momoa, it should be Amber Heard. That’s really what it was…One is not unaware of what is going on in the Twitter-verse, but that doesn’t mean you have to react to it or take it as gospel or accede to their wishes. You have to do what’s right for the film, and that’s really where we landed on it.” In an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2020, Heard reacted to fan campaigns to remove her from the Aquaman franchise. “Paid rumors and paid campaigns on social media don’t dictate [casting decisions] because they have no basis in reality…Only the fans actually made Aquaman and Aquaman 2 happen. I’m excited to get started next year,” she said.
So what is Amber Heard’s net worth and how much did she make from Aquaman? Read on for what we know about Amber Heard’s net worth and how much she’ll have to pay Johnny Depp after she lost their defamation case.
How much did Amber Heard make in Aquaman?
Image: Jasin Boland/ © Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection.
How much did Amber Heard make in Aquaman? Heard played Mera, the princess of Xebel and Aquaman / Arthur Curry’s love interest, in two Aquaman movies: 2018’s Aquaman and 2023’s Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. The first Aquaman movie premiered in December 2018 and went on to gross $335.1 million in the United States and Canada and $812.6 million overseas for a worldwide total of $1.148 billion. Aquaman‘s success made the movie the highest-grossing installment in the D.C. Extended Universe and the highest grossing-film ever based on a DC Comics Character, surpassing 2012’s The Dark Knight Rises, which made a total gross of $1.08 billion. The movie also holds the record for the second highest-grossing movie by Warner Bros. Pictures after 2011’s Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2, which grossed a total of $1.342 billion.
So…how much did Amber Heard make in Aquaman? During the trial for her defamation case with her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, Heard confirmed that she was paid $1 million for Aquaman and $2 million for Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, with bonuses based on the movies’ performances at the box office. She also confirmed that her contract was for a three-movie deal, which also included Justice League. The numbers are still less than the $15 million salary Jason Momoa, who played Arthur Curry a.k.a. Aquaman in the Aquaman movies, made for the first movie, according to Cosmopolitan. As for other actors in the DC Extended Universe, Forbes reported in 2016 that Henry Cavill made $14 million for his role as Clark Kent / Superman in 2013’s Man of Steel, while Gal Gadot made $300,000 for her role as Diana Prince / Wonder Woman in 2017’s Wonder Woman and $10 million for 2020’s Wonder Woman: 1984, according to Variety. Deadline reported in 2017 that Ben Affleck—who played Bruce Wayne / Batman in movies like Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Justice League—made between $10 million and $20 million for the role. Variety also reported in 2021 that Robert Pattinson was paid $3 million for his role as Bruce Wayne / Batman in The Batman.
What is Amber Heard’s net worth?
Image: Lionel Hahn/Sipa USA.
What is Amber Heard’s net worth? Amber Heard’s net worth is $8 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth. Along with what she made from the Aquaman movies, Amber Heard’s net worth also includes her pay for movies like Friday Night Lights, Pineapple Express, The Rum Diary (co-starring her ex-husband, Johnny Depp), Magic Mike XXL and The Danish Girl, as well as her small part in two other D.C. Extended Universe Movies: 2017’s Justice League and 2021’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League. According to Celebrity Net Worth, Heard was sued for $10 million for making unauthorized changes to the script of Magic Mike XXL and not finishing her voiceover work. She countersued and an undisclosed settlement was reached.
Amber Heard’s net worth is a fraction of what her ex-husband, Johnny Depp, is worth. Depp, who is worth $150 million, and Heard started dating in 2012 and married in 2015 with no prenup. Heard filed for divorce from Depp in 2016 and obtained a temporary restraining order against him, alleging in court that he had verbally and physically abused her often while under the influence of drugs or alcohol. A settlement was reached that same year, and Heard and Depp’s divorce was finalized in 2017. According to E! News, Heard asked for $50,000 per month in spousal support from Depp based on her “marital lifestyle,” however, her attorney later retracted that request. TMZ also reported at the time that Depp and Heard reached a $7 million settlement in their divorce. Depp paid some of that amount to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles in Heard’s name. He agreed to pay the rest of the settlement, $6.8 million, to Heard over the course of 15 months, starting in December 2016. In a statement to E! News, a representative for Heard commended Depp for his donation to the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles but said that her ex-husband should “honor the full amount by donating $14 million to charity, which, after accounting for his tax deduction, is equal to his $7 million payment obligation to Amber.”
Heard also pledged to donate the rest of her settlement to the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. In 2021, Depp asked the court to show evidence the Heard donated her settlement to the ACLU and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Heard attorneys responded by stating that she had done “nothing dishonest” with her donations to both the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles and that she “pledged to pay over 10 years,” which was “understood” by the charities.
In 2019, Depp—who was asked to resign from his role in the Fantastic Beasts franchise after Heard’s abuse claims—sued Heard for $50 million for defamation for a 2018 op-ed she wrote about her experience as a victim of domestic violence in The Washington Post, alleging that she was the abuser in their relationship. Heard countersued Depp for $100 million in 2020, alleging that he had “a harassment campaign via Twitter and [by] orchestrating online petitions in an effort to get her fired” from Aquaman, and and her partnership with L’Oréal. “I want her replaced on the WB film,” Depp allegedly wrote to his sister, producer Christi Dembrowski, who had a deal with Warner Bros. at the time, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Depp later confirmed in court that the movie he was referring to was Aquaman. A Change.org petition to remove Heard from her role in Aquaman and the the Lost Kingdom received more than 1.5 million signatures in 2020. The petition was created after Depp was asked to resign from his role in the Fantastic Beasts movies.
Heard and Depp’s defamation trial started in April 2022 and concluded in June 2022. The verdict was announced on June 1, 2022, where the jury found Heard guilty of all three counts of defamation. Heard was ordered to pay Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages for a total of $15 million. As for Heard’s countersuit against Depp—in which she countersued him for $100 million for claiming her allegations were false—Depp was found guilty of one count. He was ordered to pay $2 million in compensatory damages and zero dollars in punitive damages for a total of $2 million.
In a statement after the verdict, Heard called the result “disappointing” and a “setback” for women. “The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex-husband,” her statement read.. “I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women.” She continued, “It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously. I believe Johnny’s attorneys succeeded in getting the jury to overlook the key issue of Freedom of Speech and ignore evidence that was so conclusive that we won in the UK. I’m sad I lost this case. But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American – to speak freely and openly.”
Aquaman is available to stream on HBO Max. Here’s how to watch it for free.
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