US actress Amber Heard has settled her defamation case against ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Ms Heard, 36, wrote on Instagram that she had made the “difficult” choice to settle, adding the decision was “not an act of concession”.

She and Mr Depp, 59, faced off in court earlier this year, where jurors heard intimate details of their relationship.

A jury then found Ms Heard had defamed Mr Depp in an article in which she said she was a victim of abuse.

The terms of the settlement were not immediately clear.

The BBC has reached out to Mr Depp’s legal team for comment.

Earlier this month, Ms Heard filed an appeal in the case, asking for the jury’s verdict to be reversed or for a new trial entirely.

But in her statement on Monday, the actress said she had made the choice to settle “having lost faith in the American legal system”.

“Even if my US appeal is successful, the best outcome would be a retrial,” she said. “I simply cannot go through that.”

The six-week televised trial drew widespread public scrutiny. The former couple, who divorced in 2017, presented starkly different accounts of their relationship and both accused the other of misbehavior and abuse.

The jury sided mostly with Mr Depp – who denied abusing Ms Heard – and awarded him $15m (12m) in damages.

The verdict surprised some legal experts, especially as it followed Mr Depp’s loss in a similar case in the UK two years ago. (BBC)