Amber Heard claims divorcing Johnny Depp ruined her career despite landing 'Aquaman' and L'Oréal deal after split
Amber Heard got cast in the biggest movie franchise of her career - DC's 'Aquaman' - became the spokesperson of cosmetics giant L'Oréal Paris, as well as American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ambassador for women's rights with a focus on gender-based violence, following her divorce from Johnny Depp.
And yet, she has claimed in her court declaration countering ex-husband's $50 million defamation suit against her that her career took a serious hit and she received death threats that forced her to constantly keep on changing her contact details.
"Following my highly-publicized separation from Johnny, I read accounts in the media referring to me as a victim of domestic violence. In response, many people called me a liar (without ever hearing my story). I was dropped from a global fashion brand's upcoming campaign. I lost a part of a movie in which I had already been cast. People I have never met or spoken to threatened me with violence. I received so many death threats I had to change my phone number on a near-weekly basis," she declared in her motion to dismiss the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' actor's lawsuit filed in Fairfax County, Virginia Circuit Court.
As reported by MEAWW earlier, although Heard's career in the entertainment industry began in 2003 when she appeared in two music videos - Kenny Chesney's 'There Goes My Life' and Eisley's 'I Wasn't Prepared," and went onto star in an array of TV shows and movies, her career really took off in 2015 — the same year when she married Depp — when she had prominent roles in four mainstream movies.
She played the lead in the comedy-drama 'Magic Mike XXL,' which like its predecessor, 'Magic Mike' (2012), was a huge box office success. Heard also starred in the critically acclaimed historical drama 'The Danish Girl' and the independent crime thriller 'The Adderall Diaries.' She also appeared in the television film 'One More Time.'
The Independent called 2015 a "watershed year" in her career.
However her career catapulted to new heights of fame and since 2017 — the year her divorce with Depp was finalized — her rise has been meteoric.
In 2017, Heard joined the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) cast as Aquaman's Atlantean queen, in the superhero film 'Justice League'. 2018 marked her first major role in a studio film when she reprised her role as Mera in 'Aquaman' (2018), which co-starred Jason Momoa, Nicole Kidman, and Willem Dafoe. 'Aquaman' became the fifth most profitable release of 2018, and the most profitable DCEU installment till that point.
L'Oreal announced in 2017 that Heard will be the new global spokesperson, calling her "fearless, witty and smart" and a woman who defied definition and rejected convention.
In December 2018, she was appointed American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) ambassador for women's rights with a focus on gender-based violence. In the same year, she was named a Human Rights Champion for the Stand Up for Human Rights campaign by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.