Amber Heard‘s dog days are over.
The Magic Mike XXL actress pleaded guilty Monday to providing a false immigration document when she entered Australia last year with her pet Yorkshire terriers, Pistol and Boo. Heard, who appeared in court alongside Johnny Depp, avoided a possible 10-year prison sentence and a fine of nearly $ 100,000. Magistrate Margaret Callaghan gave Heard a one-month $ 1,000 good behavior bond, meaning she cannot commit any other offenses in the country through May 18.
The yearlong saga has been dubbed Australia’s “War on Terrier.”
Heard’s lawyer told the court that his client never meant to lie on her incoming passenger card by failing to declare she had animals with her. Heard was jetlagged and assumed her assistants had sorted out the paperwork, he said. “She has made a tired, terrible mistake,” he added. But prosecutor Peter Callaghan said that was no excuse. “The laws apply to everyone,” he argued.
In a video released Monday, Heard, 29, and Depp, 52, took turns reading a prepared statement that was submitted to the Queensland court. According to Magistrate Callaghan, the Australian Department of Agriculture “will get more deterrence value from the video than any conviction.” Sitting in an undisclosed office setting, the actress looked directly into the camera and said, “Australia is a wonderful island, with a treasure trove of unique plants, animals and people.”
A stone-faced Depp added, “It has to be protected.”
“Australia is free of many pests and diseases that are commonplace around the world,” Heard said. “That is why Australia has to have such strong biosecurity laws.”
“Australians are just as unique, both warm and direct,” Depp said. “When you disrespect Australia law, they will tell you firmly.”
“I am truly sorry that Pistol and Boo were not declared,” Heard reiterated. “Protecting Australia is important.” In conclusion, Depp said, “Declare everything when you enter Australia. Thanks.”
Twitter users mocked the video soon after its release:
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Heard illegally imported her dogs on Apr. 21, 2015, while Depp was in Queensland to film Walt Disney Pictures’ Pirate of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. Barnaby Joyce, the Australian politician who threatened to kill Heard’s dogs, said the couple communicated with the Department of Agriculture about filming the video. “I don’t think it’d be something that they would’ve willingly wanted to do,” he said. “I hope that now things move on and this issue is left behind, except for the part that it reinforces to all and sundry, don’t take our biosecurity requirements as a joke.”
In May 2015, Joyce accused Depp of smuggling the terriers aboard his private jet. Depp and Heard were given 72 hours to send Pistol and Boo back to the U.S., with Joyce threatening to euthanize the dogs. The animals made it out of the country hours before the deadline ran out.
“There is a process if you want to bring animals: you get the permits, they go into quarantine and then you can have them,” an impassioned Joyce explained during an interview with Australia’s ABC radio last April. “But if we start letting movie stars—even though they’ve been the Sexiest Man Alive twice—to come into our nation [and break the laws], then why don’t we just break the laws for everybody?”
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Heard was charged in July. When asked why Depp wasn’t charged as well, the prosecutor’s office said that there had been a “lack of admissible evidence” against anyone except Heard. That same month, Heard told Australia’s Sunrise she and Depp were “going to avoid the land Down Under from now on, just as much as we can, thanks to certain politicians there.” Regarding Joyce, she said, “I guess everyone tries to go for their 15 minutes, including some government officials.”
In September, Depp opened up about the incident during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. “We were under the impression that we had all the paperwork done for the dogs. We were there with the dogs in front of everybody,” he told host Jimmy Kimmel, adding, “There might have been other things smuggled. They seemed to miss that bit…might have been. Could have been.” Depp added that At the Venice Film Festival that same month, he was asked if he planned to take the dogs for a gondola ride. “No,” he replied. Making fun of Joyce, the Black Mass star said, “I killed my dogs and ate them, under direct orders from some kind of, I don’t know, sweaty, big-gutted man from Australia.”
In February at the 2016 Grammys, Depp said he still loves Australia and would “absolutely” be back. “I think that guy, Barnaby? He invited me to stay at his house, for some reason.”
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