Amber Heard drops defamation lawsuit against Johnny Depp's confidante

Amber Heard dropped a defamation lawsuit against Johnny Depp's confidante.

Amber Heard has dropped the defamation lawsuit against Doug Stanhope, which she filed three months ago after he published a scathing article about her.

The 30-year-old actress attempted to sue her former spouse's close friend Doug Stanhope three months ago after he wrote a cutting article claiming she had made up abuse allegations to get a hold on the actor in their divorce, but she's now decided to let go of the case to move on.

A representative for Amber told TMZ: "Amber is moving on, getting back to work and leading a normal, happy life."

The 'Rum Diary' star was forced to drop the lawsuit against Doug after she and the 'Black Mass' hunk agreed during their divorce settlement that all cases stemming from the domestic abuse allegations were scrapped. 

Doug decided to publish the article on TheWrap.com in June after Amber requested a restraining order against Johnny, 53, because he had allegedly hit her and thrown at phone at her during a fierce argument in May.

She claimed at the time: "During the entirety of our relationship, Johnny has been verbally and physically abusive to me. 

I endured excessive emotional, verbal and physical abuse from Johnny, which has included angry, hostile, humiliating and 

threatening assaults to me whenever I questioned his authority or disagreed with him."

The judge granted Amber - who appeared to have a bruised cheek - a temporary restraining order at the time but the estranged couple settled their legal issues just before the scheduled hearing to have the order extended.

The former lovers - who got married in 2015 - settled their divorce settlement on August 16 in Los Angeles and Amber took back the accusations she made about Johnny.