Amber Heard says that the jury that found she and ex-husband Johnny Depp defamed each other was swayed by the vitriolic social media backlash against her, the actor told NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie in her first interview since the jury’s decision awarded the lion’s share of damages to Depp.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Depp sued Heard for $50 million over a Washington Post op-ed in which she called herself “a public figure representing domestic violence,” while Heard countersued for $100 million over statements made by Depp Atorney Adam Waldman that her accusations were “a hoax.”
The jury awarded Depp $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages after the six-week trial that dug deep into their tumultuous, and brief, marriage. Depp’s punitive damages were reduced to $350,000 by Virginia law, and the jury awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages to Heard.
“To my dying day, I’ll stand by every word of my testimony,” Heard said in an interview that aired Tuesday on TODAY.
“I think vast majority of this trial was played out on social media. I think that this trial is an example of that gone haywire, gone amok. And the jury’s not immune to that,” Heard said.
Heard questioned how the jury could have avoided seeing those online attacks.
“How could they not? I think even the most well-intentioned juror, it would’ve been impossible to avoid this,” Heard said.
CrimeOnline previously reported that Heard told Guthrie that “even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation.”
And even if they were able to skip over the Twitter and TikTok posts, she said, they couldn’t miss the same sentiments on display as they arrived at the courthouse each morning.
“Every single day I passed from three, four, sometimes six blocks — city blocks lined with people holding signs saying, ‘Burn the witch,’ ‘Death to Amber.'” she said. “After three and a half weeks, I took the stand and saw a courtroom packed full of Captain Jack Sparrow fans who were vocal, energized.”
She told Guthrie the experience “was the most humiliating and horrible thing I’ve ever been through,” adding that it left her feeling “less than human.”
And yet, she said she didn’t blame the jury for falling for Depp’s power and influence.
“I actually understand,” she said. “He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.”
In the end, though, Heard said she stood up to that power and “paid the price.”
She reiterated that despite Depp’s claims to have never hit her, he did. And she denied ever instigating violence in their relationship saying she “responded to it.”
“I did do and say horrible, regrettable things throughout my relationship. I behaved in horrible — almost unrecognizable to myself ways,” she said.
“I will always continue to feel like I was a part of this, like I was the other half of this relationship because I was,” she said. “And it was ugly and could be very beautiful. It was very, very toxic. We were awful to each other. I made a lot of mistakes, a lot of mistakes, but I’ve always told the truth.”
Heard plans to appeal the jury’s ruling, and her attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, has previously said she doesn’t have the money to pay the judgement.
More of Heard’s interview is expected air Wednesday on TODAY and Friday in a special edition of Dateline NBC.
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[Featured image: Actor Amber Heard testifies on May 26, 2022. (Michael Reynolds/Pool Photo via AP)]
