Amber Heard’s secret hideout: A tiny village in Mallorca

Costitx does not usually appear in guides for destinations in Mallorca. The village of 1,300 is home to low stone houses and traditional shops and bars, not the beaches that most foreign visitors to Spain’s Balearic Islands seek. It is a quiet spot in the heart of the island, where the well-known Mallorcan discretion reigns. There, Heard disguises herself as just another visitor in an ocean of English-speaking tourists.

Perhaps that anonymity is why the American actress has chosen to take refuge in the village following the defamation trial against her ex-husband, actor Johnny Depp. The star sued Heard for defamation after an article she published in The Washington Post in which she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse,” though she did not mention her ex-husband. She lost. The court sentenced her to pay $10.35 million to her ex-partner, while the actor was sentenced to pay her $2 million. The judicial process, which exposed the most intimate details of their relationship, lasted from April to June and was broadcast live on television. She was scrutinized to the extreme on social media, where her name and key elements of her testimony became popular hashtags. After the ruling, the actress gave an interview to NBC in which she said she would stand by her testimony until her “dying day.” She then completely dropped off the public radar. Her social networks fell silent on June 1, when she stated that she was “disappointed” with the jury’s verdict.

Now, Heard has reappeared in this small Spanish town in the center of Mallorca, where she lives with her daughter Oonagh Paige, born in April 2021 through a surrogate mother, and her partner, the film photographer Bianca Butti. According to the neighbors, at the beginning of the summer, the trio settled into the house, which they rented from the family of a formerly all-powerful political figure: Maria Antònia Munar, the former regional premier of the Balearic Islands, who was sentenced to 14 years in prison for corruption. The house is located in the center of the town. The actress and her partner are usually seen exiting and entering it with their daughter in a baby carrier or stroller or loaded with shopping bags from a nearby store.

“I’ve had her by my side a couple of times, but I didn’t know who she was until they told me. She moves around very normally and does not hide at all,” says a young resident of the town, who has crossed paths with Heard. Heard’s outings resemble those of any family with a child in Costitx: visits to the playground, walks through the streets and shopping in local stores. It’s a quiet life.

“She walks with her daughter and goes to the park. She leads a very normal village life, as if she were a native,” comments another resident, who says that the Aquaman actress has been living in Costitx for at least two months and intends to stay there a while longer. The neighbors have observed her in the town since July.

International media outlets, including TMZ, have published snapshots in which the actress can be seen in the town square, accompanied by her partner and her daughter playing on the swings. In another series of photographs, they appear walking through the streets with another couple of friends. Last week, the local daily Diario de Mallorca published an image in which the actress is seen carrying her daughter on her back. According to the newspaper, the actress has adopted a new identity, calling herself Martha Jane Cannary after the 18th-century American explorer who fought against the American Indians in the West under the name of Calamity Jane. She may have assumed the name as a metaphor for her conflict with Depp, who has always claimed his Cherokee ancestry.

The actress’s Instagram profile, which has more than five million followers, reveals hints of her past relationship with the island. On January 14, she published a first photo, with the message “hola Madrid.” But the actress was in fact in an alley in the center of Palma, the capital of Mallorca, as can be verified by the shop in the background of the photo. Ten days later, she shared a photograph taken in another small square in the historic center of Palma, very close to the cathedral.

It’s taken weeks for the actress to be identified in Mallorca. If she continues to conceal herself among the colony of visitors to the island, she may continue to remain anonymous.