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Amber Heard and Bianca Butti were first publicly connected in January 2020 when the two were seen sharing a kiss during a Palm Springs trip together.
At the time, the pair began making headlines while stepping out together and showing off their new romance amid Heard’s legal battles with ex-husband Johnny Depp. Since then, their defamation case came to a close on June 14, 2023, when Amber Heard issued $1 million to Depp after Heard made the “difficult decision” to settle. The decision came after a jury found that she defamed Depp in her op-ed about domestic violence and he was awarded over $10 million in damages on June 1, 2022.
The former couple married in February 2015 and settled their divorce in August 2016. Since calling it quits, the Aquaman actress first struck up a romance with Elon Musk, a relationship they ended in 2018. Heard was then linked to The Flash director Andy Muschietti in 2019.
In addition to being seen shopping for flowers together, amid the COVID-19 outbreak, Heard and Butti also appeared to be social distancing together. Heard posted a video on Instagram in March 2020 — seemingly taken by Butti — remarking on how her “organic garden” was helping her self-isolate during early days of the pandemic.
While there were rumors of a split between the two in 2021, Butti supported Heard amid her legal battle with Depp. Butti and Heard were also seen together in Spain in October 2022.
Here’s everything to know about Bianca Butti and her relationship with Amber Heard.
Butti graduated from San Francisco State University in 2004
According to Butti’s LinkedIn profile, she graduated from San Francisco State University in 2004.
Butti’s bio on her personal website states that she studied cinematography while attending college, earning a B.A. in cinema with a minor in painting and drawing.
Her biography reads that she is “interested in the art of creating visually compelling images for motion pictures with the use of light and framing to translate complex human emotions.”
Butti is a Los Angeles-based cinematographer
Saskia Lawaks
Butti has been working in the entertainment industry for the past decade. According to IMDb, she’s worked as a cinematographer on several episodes of the hit VH1 series Love & Hip Hop and Love & Hip-Hop: Atlanta, as well as a variety of feature films.
She also wrote and directed a short titled The Proprietor and has even tried her hand in front of the camera as an actress in Hank and Asha and Trunk: A Love Story. Butti has also worked as a producer and executive producer on several movies.
Butti was diagnosed with breast cancer for a second time
@buttibeatsit / Instagram
Butti was first diagnosed with breast cancer in 2015 at the age of 34, according to a GoFundMe page set up on her behalf in August 2019. After undergoing surgery and rounds of chemotherapy, she was declared cancer-free but was diagnosed with cancer for a second time in March 2019.
“I was beyond devastated,” the cinematographer wrote in a note on the GoFundMe. “A new tumor appeared in my right breast, almost 3 years since I was declared ‘cancer free.'”
“I will say that getting a cancer diagnosis for the second time, is a lot less scary than the first time. After being diagnosed a few years ago, I did a lot of research about breast cancer and cancer in general,” she added. “For cancer round two I felt more patient and well informed about what my options were for treatment.”
The filmmaker has also been very open about living with cancer on social media in the past, where she would often update her followers on Instagram about her treatments and procedures.
Butti and Heard were seen grocery shopping in Los Angeles in March 2020
In early 2020, Heard and Butti were spotted grocery shopping together in L.A. They appeared to be holding hands and shared a tender moment as they walked out of the store with their haul. At the time, the pair were often seen out in public together running errands, including buying supplies from Home Depot.
Butti traveled to London to support Heard during Johnny Depp’s U.K. trial
During Depp’s libel case over the summer of 2020, in which Heard’s ex-husband was suing News Group Newspapers (NGN) over a 2018 column in The Sun that referred to the actor as a “wife beater,” Heard appeared before the High Court in London to provide evidence.
According to Metro, Butti was present throughout the trial and pictured supporting Heard when the actress appeared at court. Additionally, the two were occasionally seen spending time together outside of the trial, including a day out in Soho after the case came to a close.
Butti supported Heard on Instagram
On June 1, 2022, Butti made a post on Instagram with the hashtag #istandwithamberheard and shared a few words of support for Heard following the jury’s decision that Heard defamed Depp in her op-ed about domestic violence.
Condemning the reactions in the media and on social media following the ruling as “awful and inappropriate,” Butti expressed support for Heard and all survivors of abuse.
“Amber is someone I am grateful to call a friend and no one who stands up to speak the truth should be treated like this,” wrote Butti. “My heart goes out to her during these difficult times. No matter what happens #istandwithamberheard.”