Johnny Depp and Amber Heard: A timeline

17 August 2016

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard can start to move on now after agreeing a settlement in their divorce.

Johnny Depp and Amber Heard

The couple are unlikely to have expected their union to have fizzled out just four years after they first met on the set of their movie 'The Rum Diary'.

Prior to getting involved with Amber in late 2012, Johnny had been in a 14-year relationship with Vanessa Paradis, the mother of his children Lily-Rose and Jack, while the bisexual actress had romanced photographer Tasya van Ree.

They wed in a private service at their Los Angeles home in February 2015, but Amber filed for divorce just 15 months later, and accused the actor of being violent towards her, obtaining a temporary restraining order.

In return, Johnny's lawyers claimed her allegations were designed to obtain a "premature financial resolution". As a result, in June Amber withdrew her request for spousal support as her request was was "being used against me to distract and divert the public away from the very serious real issue of domestic violence.

Last month, the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star showed he had visited a tattoo artist in order to begin erasing his marriage.

A hand inking of Amber's nickname, 'Slim', had been modified to read 'Scum'.

As the day of their trial grew closer, proceedings intensified this month, with the 30-year-old actress spending nine hours at Johnny's lawyers' offices for her deposition on August 6 - but reportedly refusing to sit and be questioned under oath.

She was then unable to get a flight back from the UK for another deposition on August 11, so it was rearranged for the following day.

That same day, video footage emerged, seemingly of the 'Edward Scissorhands' actor smashing a wine glass and bottle and slamming kitchen cabinets - Amber later denied leaking the clip.

Three days later, TMZ reported details of a row between the couple in March 2015, in which Johnny allegedly accidentally cut off part of his fingertip and, using his bloody fingertip dipped in paint, wrote 'Easy Amber' and 'Billy Bob' on a mirror, accusing his wife of being unfaithful with actor Billy Bob Thornton, a claim they have both denied.

With the trial due to begin on Wednesday (17.08.16), after lengthy negotiations, the couple finally reached a $7 million settlement on Tuesday (16.08.16).