Amber Heard's Dating History: From Johnny Depp to Elon Musk

Mar. 15, 2025

Photo:Jason Merritt/Getty ; SplashNews.com

Jason Merritt/Getty ; SplashNews.com

Amber Heardhas kept her dating life out of the public eye following a tumultuous few years of legal battles with her ex-husbandJohnny Depp.

Since rising to fame, theAquamanstar has often made headlines for her romantic relationships. In 2010, Heard came out as bisexual while in a relationship with photographerTasya van Ree.

Coming out “didimpact my career, it was difficult. It was not easy,” Heard said atThe Economist‘s Pride & Prejudice Summit in 2017. “I did that even though everyone told me it would end my career, without a doubt.”

Although her relationship with van Ree didn’t last, she once again found herself making headlines when she began dating Depp. The pair went on to marry, but their tumultuous relationship began to fray. After 15 months of marriage,they filed for divorce. She filed for a domestic violence restraining order against Depp while he adamantly denied the allegations.

Now, Heard is focusing on the future and her young daughter,Oonagh, whom she welcomed as a single mom. In December 2024, a rep for Heard confirmed to PEOPLE that she is expecting her second child, adding, “Suffice to say thatAmber is delightedboth for herself and Oonagh Paige.”

Here’s a look back at Amber Heard’s dating history.

Tasya van Ree

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In 2008, Heard began dating photographer Tasya van Ree. The couple kept the first two years of their relationship mostly under wraps; it wasn’t until 2010 that they began appearing at public events as a pair. In February of that year, they attended their first event together as Heard hosted a charity art exhibition featuring van Ree’s photos.

In December 2010, Heard publicly came out as bisexual during GLAAD’s 25th Anniversary party — although she said she was never actively hiding her sexuality. She spoke toAfterEllen.comat the event as an “out actress” for the first time and opened up about her relationship with van Ree.

“She’s so beautiful,” Heard said. “I mean, you’d have to be crazy not to want to go out with her!”

The pair dated for several more years, during which van Ree reportedly gifted Heard with her dog Pistol. The relationship was serious enough that Heard legallychanged her last nameto van Ree — although they were unable to tie the knot as same-sex marriage was not yet legal across the U.S. However, the couple called it quits in 2012, and Heard restored her name.

Despite the pair going their separate ways, their relationship made headlines years later when news surfaced that Heard had beenarrested in 2009for domestic violence against van Ree. Heard allegedly grabbed and struck van Ree’s arm in an altercation at a Seattle airport. The prosecutor declined to file charges, and in 2016 van Ree said the situation was “over-sensationalized.”

Since then, Heard and van Ree have remained friendly and were even spotted spending time together in 2018, pertheDaily Mail.

Johnny Depp

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Heard was firstintroduced to Deppwhile they were both working onThe Rum Diaryin 2009. At the time, Heard was still dating van Ree and Depp was in a relationship withVanessa Paradis. Although Heard and Depp’s relationship was platonic during filming, Depp admitted in court that he began to feel something he “should not be feeling” toward Heard while on set. When filming wrapped, Depp said Heard remained in his head and in 2011,they reconnectedduring the film’s press tour.

“Weconnect on a lot of levelsbut the first things that really got me was she’s an aficionado of the blues,” Depp said in 2015. “She’s very, very literate. She’s a voracious reader as I have been, so we connected on that as well, and she’s kind of brilliant and beautiful.”

After the press tour wrapped, Heard and Deppbegan a private relationship, as Depp had not publicly announced his split from Paradis. Looking back, Heard said the early days of their romance “felt like a dream,” and she felt as though Depp saw her “in a way no one else had.” They kept their relationship under wraps for quite some time, and it wasn’t until 2013 that they were photographed holding hands.

Less than a year later, Depp proposed to Heard at a London hotel — even thoughhe didn’t have a ring. A source confirmedtheir engagementin January 2014, telling PEOPLE that the couple “couldn’t be happier to be engaged.” Heard and Depptied the knotin a civil ceremony at their Los Angeles home in February 2015. Then, just a few days later, theyhosted a second ceremonyon Depp’s private island in the Bahamas.

The couple’s marriage was short-lived, and15 months after their wedding, Heard filed for divorce in May 2016. Less than a week later, she accused Depp of domestic abuse and sought adomestic violence restraining orderagainst the actor. In court paperwork, Heard recalled violent altercations, including an incident where Depp allegedly threw a cell phone at her face. Depp denied the claims and a spokesman for the LAPD told PEOPLE that officers on the scene at the time saw “no evidence of any crime.” In August 2016, the exes reached a$7 million divorce settlementoutside of court and the domestic violence case against Depp was dismissed.

Also in 2018,The Sunwrote about Heard’s op-ed and described Depp as a “wife beater.” Depp sued the publication for libel. The pair eachtestified in courtin the U.K. in July 2020; based on their testimony, a judge ruled against Depp, finding thatThe Sun’s article was “substantially true.”

Heard’s legal team emphasized that Heard was expressing her right to free speech and that she was not guilty of libel because her statements were based in truth. She later took the stand herself, claiming that Depp was first violent with her when he allegedlyslapped her across the facefor laughing athis “wino” tattoo. She went on to accuse Depp of sexually assaulting her on multiple occasions, including shocking allegations that he performed a “cavity search” while looking for misplaced drugs andassaulted herusing a liquor bottle.

In June 2022, a seven-person juryreached a verdictin the trial, deciding that Heard had defamed Depp in her 2018 op-ed. Depp was awarded $15 million in damages, although Virginia law caps punitive damages at $10.35 million. In Heard’s countersuit, she won one of three defamation counts and was awarded $2 million in damages. Depp laterfiled an appealto overturn the countersuit’s decision. In December 2022, Heardannounced she was settlingthe case — not as an “act of concession,” she wrote, but as a way of leaving behind what she called a legal system that was “unable to protect” her or her right to free speech.

Elon Musk

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While Heard was still dating Depp, she appeared in the movieMachete Kills, which featured a cameo fromElon Musk, although she never met the Tesla founder on set. After filming wrapped, Musk reached out to the movie’s directorRobert Rodrigueztoarrange a dinner with Heard, and, despite a meeting being scheduled, she never showed up.

After the failed connection, it would be several years before the pair would formally meet, though exactly when Heard and Musk crossed paths again is unclear. Heard said in court that she didn’t become friendly with the tech mogul until the 2016 Met Gala (at which Heard alleged Depp “stood [her] up”), whileDepp claimed in court papersin his 2022 defamation trial against the actress that Heard and Musk began seeing each other secretly in 2015.

In August 2017, however,they went their separate ways. Insiders close to the pair told PEOPLE that Musk had initiated the split due to their busy schedules. Despite the breakup, things remained amicable between them. Musk evenleft a commenton Heard’s Instagram, telling followers that they were still friends and planned to “remain close and love one another.” After being spotted together again just days later, the pair released anofficial statement about their split.

“People occasionally send out speculation, which has no basis in fact, without our knowledge, believing that they have our best interests in mind. Sometimes, other agendas are at work. It can get a little weird … However, we would like to state directly that we have the utmost respect for one another, and it would be troubling if anyone had the impression that we thought otherwise,” they wrote. “The reality is that this is just a normal relationship with a giant magnifying glass applied.”

Several months after their split, Heard and Musk werespotted sharing a kissin an L.A. restaurant. Despite the PDA, sources said the pair were just “friendly.” Then, just days later, Heard was seenvacationing with Musk in Chile. By January 2018, it seemed that theirromance was fully back on. Their rekindled relationship was short-lived, though, as the pairbroke up for the second timethat February.

Later reflecting on their connection, Heard said that she had a “beautiful relationship” with Musk and was continuing to have a “beautiful friendship” with him. She added that the pair had bonded over “intellectual curiosity, ideas and conversation, [and] a shared love for science.”

“We just bonded on a lot of things that speak to who I am on the inside,” Heard toldThe Hollywood Reporter. “I have so much respect for him.”

Vito Schnabel

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Heard was first linked to art dealerVito Schnabelin May 2018, just a few months after her split with Musk. The couple were spotted having breakfast together at Italian restaurant Sant Ambroeus in New York City, and over the next few months, they made several low-keyappearances around the city.

The duo went public with their relationship in July of that year, attending a tennis match at Wimbledon in London. Heard and Schnabel were seen holding hands as they made their way to the grass courts.

The relatively private couple continued to date over the next year, taking a New Year’s trip to Switzerland and making several outings in L.A. The pair ultimately called it quits in early 2019, which was confirmed when they were both spotted out with other people.

Andrés Muschietti

Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty ; Gabe Ginsberg/WireImage

In March 2019,Heard was seen kissingArgentinian directorAndrés Muschietti. Over the course of the next few weeks, the couple were spotted spending lots of time together. Later that month, they were photographed while holding party supplies as theyheaded to a friend’s home. Then in early April, the pair were spottedspending time together in L.A.as they grabbed coffee and went to a movie.

It’s unclear exactly what happened between the two, but it appears the relationship eventually fizzled out.

Bianca Butti

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Heard sparked dating rumors with filmmakerBianca Buttiin January 2020 when they werespotted kissingduring a Palm Springs getaway. Though the couple didn’t confirm their romance, they were spotted together again in March asthey went grocery shoppingand tooka trip to buy plants. The pair even appeared to be spending the early days of the COVID-19 pandemicquarantining together.

source: people.com