Johnny Depp 'Excited' for Comeback, Amber Heard Has 'New Energy' 1 Year After Trial Began: Sources (Exclusive)
Tuesday marks one year since Johnny Depp's defamation trial against Amber Heard began in Fairfax County, Virginia
Johnny Depp and Amber Heard are in much different places today, one year after after Depp's defamation case against his ex-wife kicked off in Fairfax County, Virginia.
The verdict, reached on June 1 after a controversial, live-televised six-week trial, ultimately fell more in Depp's favor, finding Heard liable on all three counts of defamation in regards to her 2018 op-ed about coming forward with abuse allegations.
She was ordered to pay $10.35 million in damages, and he was to pay $2 million since she won one of the three claims in her countersuit. Both made appeals but eventually agreed on a settlement by December: Heard would pay Depp $1 million, which he'd donate to several different charities.
A source close to Heard tells PEOPLE the actress "couldn't wait to leave the U.S. with her daughter" after the trial. She's mom to daughter Oonagh Paige, who turned 2 years old earlier this month.
"She has been living in Spain, where she gets more privacy. The trial was beyond stressful for her and she just wanted to start fresh out of the country," the source says. "She is excited about working and filming again. She was exhausted and disappointed about the trial. She felt she was mistreated."
The source adds, "This is all behind her now, though. She has new energy and is focused on things that she loves."
Related:Constance Wu, Gloria Steinem and More Support Amber Heard Against 'Public Shaming' in Open Letter
Post-trial, Depp has been "focused on work," an insider close to the actor says. Last year, Depp toured after the trial with guitarist and close friend Jeff Beck, who died in January at age 78. He returns to the big screen in the upcoming French-language movie Jeanne Du Barry, in which he plays King Louis XV opposite costar and director Ma?wenn. The film will open the prestigious Cannes Film Festival on May 16.
"As soon as his tour ended, he jumped into filming Jeanne Du Barry. Filming was challenging, but Johnny is excited about the comeback," the insider says. "He thinks it's perfect that this historical drama will open at Cannes."
The insider adds, "Johnny has been living in Europe since the trial. He has been dating, but doesn't have a girlfriend."
Related:Johnny Depp 'Wasn't Looking to Destroy' Amber Heard as She Settles: 'Wasn't About Money' (Source)
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Depp, 59, recently opened up about living quietly in the rural English county of Somerset. He told the local magazine Somerset Life in April that the location was "special" to him since he can enjoy low-key "private time with my family."
"I can go into shops without being surrounded by people wanting selfies. I don't mind that up to a point, but sometimes it gets a little too crowded," he said. "In truth, I'm quite a shy person. That's one of the great things about Britain, and especially Somerset: I can just be me — and that's nice."
Career-wise, he is also slated to direct the upcoming movie Modi, based on the play Modigliani by Dennis McIntyre, and this summer he's touring Europe with his rock band Hollywood Vampires, which includes Alice Cooper and Joe Perry.
Meanwhile, a source had told PEOPLE in November, prior to the settlement news, that Heard was spending most of her time living in Europe, where she was "able to just be a mom there."
That source added at the time, "The trial was exhausting for her. She missed her little girl. She is focused on raising her daughter. She spends every day with her girl. They stroll around, visit parks and enjoy family time."
The actress, who appears in the Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom sequel scheduled to hit theaters Dec. 20, will mark her 37th birthday on April 22.
When she announced the settlement with Depp in December, Heard said in a lengthy statement that "my life as I knew it was destroyed" by the court case, admitting she'd "lost faith in the American legal system." She added that she'd "exhausted almost all my resources in advance of and during" the trial, which she claimed had more to do with "popularity and power" than "reason and due process."
"Now I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to," she said at the time about reaching the settlement. "I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward."
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