Amber Heard is speaking out in her first interview since the verdict in her blockbuster defamation trial, revealing she doesn't "blame" the jury for siding with her ex-husband Johnny Depp and calling out the social media coverage surrounding the case.
A preview of Heard's sit-down interview with Savannah Guthrie aired Monday on NBC's "TODAY" show.
Speaking on the jury's verdict, Heard said, "I don't blame them."
"I actually understand. He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor," she said of Depp.
Heard called the social media frenzy surrounding her case "unfair" as many posts on TikTok and Twitter overwhelmingly appeared to favor Depp during the six-week trial.
The TikTok hashtag “Justice for Amber Heard” received 27 million views, while one for Depp raked in 20 billion views
"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 continued. "You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”
Depp, who was not in court for the verdict due to a previously scheduled work commitment, sued for $50 million in damages over a 2018 op-ed essay by Heard in The Washington Post, in which she said she had become a “public figure representing domestic abuse.”
Although the essay never mentioned Depp by name, his attorneys said it indirectly referred to allegations she made against him during their 2016 divorce.
Heard countersued Depp for $100 million, a claim centered around three statements made by Depp’s former attorney Adam Waldman in 2020 to the Daily Mail, in which he described Heard’s allegations of abuse as a “hoax.”
For six weeks, a Virginia jury — and the close-watching public — learned about Heard and Depp's private lives and how their marriage turned acrimonious.
On June 1, the jury found Heard defamed Depp and harmed his career with her claims of domestic abuse, awarding Depp $15 million in damages. The sum of $5 million in punitive damages was reduced to $350,000, which is the state’s statutory cap or legal limit, making his total damages $10.4 million.
Heard's attorney, Elaine Bredehoft, previously told "TODAY" that Heard intends to appeal and can't pay the $10.4 million judgement in the case.
The exclusive interview will air Tuesday and Wednesday on "TODAY" and in a special "Dateline" on Friday at 8 p.m. ET.
