YouIn her first interview after the decision in the highly publicized defamation case between Amber Heard, her ex-husband Johnny Depp was announced, Heard lashed out at the media frenzy surrounding the case and stated that she understands why Depp won.
“I don’t blame them,” Heard said in a preview for the interview with the TODAY show’s Savannah Guthrie. “I actually understand. He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.”
Following a six-week trial that delved into intimate details about the former couple’s personal lives—including several instances of alleged verbal and physical abuse—a Virginia jury awarded Depp $10.4 million in damages after deciding that Heard defamed Depp in a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post. Heard received $2 million in compensation for her countersuit.
“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,” she said.
“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,” she added. “You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”
This case was widely discussed online. Videos from the trial garnered millions of views, and viewers often chimed in on TikTok and Twitter to provide their own analysis of the case—opinions which often skewed heavily in favor of Depp. The TikTok hashtag “Justice for Amber Heard” has received 92 million views, while the similar hashtag for Depp has more than 20 billion.
Depp sued Heard $50 million for the 2018 opinion piece in which Depp referred to her self as “a public face of domestic abuse” but didn’t mention Depp. After her lawyer dismissed the allegations as a hoax, Heard sued Depp for $100 Million.
In a statement following the decision, Depp said, “From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome….I hope that my quest to have the truth be told will have helped others, men or women, who have found themselves in my situation, and that those supporting them never give up.”
Elaine Bredehoft her attorney, Heard plans to appeal against the decision.
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