Amber Heard says she doesn't 'blame' the jury for siding with Johnny Depp: 'He's a fantastic actor'
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Amber Heard sat down with NBC News' Savannah Guthrie for her first sit-down interview since the trial involving her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Heard, 36, said she doesn't blame the jury for siding with Depp, 59, in the defamation case he brought against her. In a preview of the interview, which will air on Today this week and Dateline on Friday, the Aquaman actress said, "I dont blame them. I actually understand. He's a beloved character and people feel they know him. He's a fantastic actor."
Depp sued Heard over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in which Heard described herself as a survivor of domestic abuse. Though she didn't name Depp specifically, the Pirates of the Caribbean star's attorneys stated she referenced claims made during their 2016 divorce. Depp has denied all allegations of abuse and alleged in his lawsuit against Heard that the op-ed impacted his career. Heard countersued.
A jury unanimously sided with Depp in the defamation trial, awarding him more than $10 million. Heard asked of Guthrie in the NBC interview, "How could they not come to that conclusion?"
She continued, "They had sat in those seats and heard over three weeks of nonstop relentless testimony from paid employees, and towards the end of the trial, randos, as I say."
Heard also called the social media circus surrounding the trial "unfair." NBC cites stats surrounding TikTok hashtags: #JusticeforAmberHeard received 27 million views, while similar hashtags for Depp garnered billions.
Today Show Twitter Amber Heard sits down with Savannah Guthrie on 'Today' to discuss the trial with her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
"I don't care what one thinks about me or what judgements you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my home in my marriage behind closed doors," said Heard. "I don't presume the average person should know those things, so I don't take it personally. But even somebody who is sure I am 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."
Speaking to Guthrie last week, lawyers for Depp asserted their belief that "social media played no role whatsoever" in the verdict.
The jurors were ordered not to research or read about the case, though they were not sequestered. Heard's lawyer also told Today in an interview that aired earlier this month that the judgement regarding Depp's libel trial in the U.K. had not been disclosed to the jurors.
Depp sued The Sun newspaper in 2020 after an article claimed he had assaulted Heard. He lost that case when the judge ruled that the paper's claims were "substantially true."
Heard now plans to appeal the verdict in her own case, EW had earlier reported.
In his own statement following the verdict, Depp said he got his life back.
"Six years ago, my life, the life of my children, the lives of those closest to me, and also, the lives of the people who for many, many years have supported and believed in me were forever changed. All in the blink of an eye," he said. "False, very serious and criminal allegations were levied at me via the media, which triggered an endless barrage of hateful content, although no charges were ever brought against me. It had already traveled around the world twice within a nanosecond and it had a seismic impact on my life and my career."
"And six years later," he added, "the jury gave me my life back. I am truly humbled."
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