Heard: I understand pro-Depp verdict
Amber Heard believes that Johnny Depp’s lengthy and celebrated career earned him fans in the courtroom, too.
After a Fairfax, Va., jury ruled this month that the “Aquaman” star defamed her ex-husband by writing in a Washington Post opinion piece that she was “a public figure representing domestic abuse,” Heard says in a new interview that she understands why they sided with him.
“I don’t blame them,” the actress (left in photo) said in a preview of a “Today” show interview with Savannah Guthrie set to air Tuesday and Wednesday on the morning show and Friday on “Dateline.”
“I actually understand. He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.”
The contentious six-week trial played out not just in the courtroom but on social media, where TikTok was overtaken by memes about domestic violence. Jurors were not sequestered, but were told not to go online or read coverage of the trial.
“I don’t care what one thinks about me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home, in my marriage, behind closed doors. I don’t presume the average person should know those things. And so I don’t take it personally,” Heard, 36, told NBC News in Monday’s sneak peek of the interview.
“But even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation. You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”
Finding “clear and convincing evidence” that Heard defamed Depp, despite her never naming him in the 2018 article — and despite a 2020 ruling in England that The Sun was not libelous in calling Depp a “wife beater” — the jury awarded Depp $15 million in compensatory and punitive damages, which was lowered by the judge to just over $10 million.
In a smaller victory, Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages because Depp’s former lawyer called her allegations a “hoax.”
While Heard and Depp’s lawyers have been blanketing the morning shows since the trial ended, this marks Heard’s first interview about the ruling. Meanwhile, Depp, who turned 59 last week, has announced a new album with longtime collaborator Jeff Beck, set to be released next month.