Rise to Fame
After her best friend died in a car crash when she was 16, she dropped out of her Catholic high school, moved to LA, and spent years building toward something. Pineapple Express (2008) earned her a Young Hollywood Award. Aquaman (2018) finally gave her a blockbuster franchise and a legitimate Hollywood foothold as Mera, the Atlantean princess co-starring opposite Jason Momoa. The film made over a billion dollars at the box office. None of it mattered when the lawsuit started.
In the Spotlight
Johnny Depp's 2022 defamation trial became appointment television for much of the internet, live-streamed and relitigated in real time. The Virginia jury found her liable on all three counts and awarded him $10.35 million. She received $2 million on her counterclaim. They settled in December 2022, reportedly with her paying Johnny Depp $1 million. Warner Bros. cut her down to 11 lines in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. She relocated to Madrid, bought a house there, and rebuilt a life outside Hollywood's sight lines.
Side Notes
She came out as bisexual at a 2010 GLAAD event when her film career was still in single-digit credits. The UN named her a Human Rights Champion, and she pledged $3.5 million to the ACLU over ten years, though the ACLU confirmed during trial testimony that she'd paid less than half by 2022. She had her daughter Oonagh Paige via surrogate in 2021, a year before the trial flattened everything. The activism credentials didn't survive the courtroom intact.