Heard will stand by Depp testimony ‘to my dying day’
Amber Heard says she’ll forever stand by the abuse allegations she made against Johnny Depp during his defamation trial against her.
“To my dying day, [I] will stand by every word of my testimony,” Heard said in an interview with Savannah Guthrie that aired on NBC’s “Today” on Tuesday.
The sit-down came more than a week after a Virginia jury handed “Pirates of the Caribbean” star Depp a big win in court, awarding him $15 million in damages. The jury found that a Washington Post op-ed penned by Heard in 2018, which focused on sexual violence, ruined her ex-husband’s career. Heard was awarded $2 million as part of a countersuit.
Asked by Guthrie if the verdict had sunk in with her, the “Aquaman” actor replied, “How could it?”
“It’s surreal and difficult,” the 36-year-old performer continued. “In part, yes, this has been a long time coming.”
“This was the most humiliating and horrible thing I’ve ever been through. I’ve never felt more removed from my own humanity. I felt less than human,” Heard said.
Heard also countered one of Depp’s lawyers, who in a closing statement called her testimony during the trial the “performance of a lifetime.”
“Says the lawyer for the man who convinced the world he had scissors for fingers,” Heard exclaimed of the “Edward Scissorhands” star. “I’m the performer? I had listened to weeks of testimony insinuating that or saying quite directly I’m a terrible actress. So I’m a bit confused how I could be both.”
Heard had testified that 59-year-old Depp had physically and sexually abused her throughout much of their relationship, claiming that she masked bruises on her face with makeup.
Depp denied Heard’s accusations, claiming in court that she was the one who mentally and physically abused him throughout the course of their 15-month marriage.
When Guthrie remarked that many courtroom viewers or casual observers of the trial might be “disgusted by the whole thing” and lack sympathy for both her and Depp, Heard agreed.
“Absolutely. I would not blame the average person for looking at this and how it’s been covered and not think that it is Hollywood brats at their worst,” Heard said.
“But what people don’t understand is it’s actually so much bigger than that. This is not only about our First Amendment right to speak.”
Describing her relationship with Depp as “ugly” and “very toxic,” Heard told Guthrie, “We were awful to each other. I made a lot of mistakes.”
“But I’ve always told the truth,” she said.
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