As if I needed more evidence that Amber Heard had crappy lawyers who gave her consistently terrible advice. Just weeks after Amber and Johnny Depp settled their epic divorce, we’re now learning that Depp had something special folded into the settlement: he wanted Amber to drop her defamation suit against his friend Doug Stanhope. Stanhope was and is Depp’s ride-or-die bro, to the point where Stanhope wrote an essay for The Wrap about how Amber is a manipulative liar who manipulated Depp and lied about being physically abused. Heard and her lawyers threw a defamation suit against Stanhope shortly after his op-ed was published. But now Amber has dropped it. TMZ reported it first, and they said that it was part of Johnny and Amber’s settlement talks. People Magazine had more details:

Now, just three weeks after Heard and Depp reached a settlement in their divorce, PEOPLE confirms that the actress has dropped the defamation suit against Stanhope. Stanhope’s attorney, David S. Gringas, tells PEOPLE that Heard and his client did not reach any agreement to settle the case. Furthermore, Gringas says that no money was exchanged between Heard and Stanhope, and that there is no confidential agreement between them. Gringas adds that he has not been in contact with Stanhope since the lawsuit was dropped, and says that given the comedian’s busy schedule, “I’d be surprised if he even knows anything about the conclusion of the case.”

According to the attorney, the dismissal “was negotiated as part of a larger deal between Ms. Heard and her ex-husband, Johnny Depp. Doug Stanhope is one of Johnny Depp’s closest friends, and it appears that Johnny was able to convince Amber to drop the lawsuit against Doug as part of a global resolution of their divorce.”

Gringas also notes that the case was dismissed without prejudice, meaning that Heard could re-file the lawsuit within one year of the date that Stanhope’s article was first published. “As far as we know, Ms. Heard has no plans to re-file the case against Mr. Stanhope, but that option remains available to her,” he explains.

In her initial court filing, Heard claimed that Stanhope “orchestrated a plot to write an article, which was published at TheWrap.com, which falsely accuses plaintiff Amber Heard of ‘blackmail’ and other criminal behavior towards her husband, Johnny Depp, from whom she is seeking a divorce.”

The actress called the claims “completely false and defamatory” and added that they have caused her “tremendous harm.” In a statement to PEOPLE, Heard’s lawyer, Charles J. Harder, had said that Heard planned to donate any potential jury awards to a domestic violence charity in Arizona.

[From People]

Ugh. So not only did Johnny Depp manipulate Amber constantly throughout their marriage, he continued to manipulate her throughout the divorce settlement negotiations and he got almost everything he wanted? Like, I’m sure it hurt him to write a check for $7 million, which is why he didn’t sign the check to Amber, which was his legal f—king obligation. Everything about Johnny and his bros is so petty and weird. Also: the fact that the defamation lawsuit was even part of Johnny and Amber’s divorce talks just proves (to me) that Stanhope wrote the essay at Depp’s behest. So gross.

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