‘I love him’: Amber Heard on Johnny Depp and other revelations made after defamation trial

Amber Heard is going public with her story after losing the defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp. The Hollywood actress, during an interview with Savannah Guthrie of NBC’s ‘Today’ show, has spoken about the vitriol that had been directed at her all through the trial, while revealing other key moments from the courtroom drama that spanned six-weeks and why she still loves her ex despite accusing him of domestic violence while they were married. Here’s a look at everything Heard said in her interview.

She stands by her testimony: Heard says she stands by the testimony she gave during a contentious six-week libel trial against former husband Depp, saying she has “always told the truth,” adding: “That’s all I spoke. And I spoke it to power. And I paid the price,” she told Guthrie. Heard said this in her first post-verdict interview, two weeks after a jury awarded Depp more than $10 million and vindicated his allegations that Heard lied about Depp abusing her. “To my dying day, I’ll stand by every word of my testimony,” Heard added. “I made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve always told the truth.”

Heard admits to making mistakes as well: As the trial unfolded, a lot was said on both sides, with Heard also being accused of severing the tip of Depp’s finger after a fight in Australia, while repeatedly abusing him and taunting him through their marriage. When questioned about it, Heard did not reveal details but did say this: “I did do and say horrible, regrettable things throughout my relationship. I behaved in horrible, almost unrecognisable to myself ways. I have so much regret,” she said.

Social media attack: The actress also took objection to the treatment that she was subjected to on social media and fan clubs through the six-week saga, calling it “unfair”, while adding: “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.” Heard further added: “I don’t presume the average person should know those things. And so I don’t take it personally. 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. You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”

On the op-ed at the centre of the suit: At the centre of the lawsuit was the op-ed that appeared in The Washington Post in 2018 under Heard’s byline where she described herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse,” without actually naming Depp. The ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ star’s lawyers filed the case on the basis that it was implied she was referring to Depp. However, in the new interview when she was asked about her decision to write the op-ed, Heard had this to say: “Because the op-ed wasn’t about my relationship with Johnny.” When Guthrie asked that it alluded to him, Heard replied: “You know, what the op-ed was about was me lending my voice to a bigger cultural conversation that we were having at the time,” referring to #MeToo. She further said that she had “teams of lawyers” review drafts of the op-ed to make sure she didn’t “do anything like defame him.”

Why she didn’t call the cops on Depp: Depp’s lawyers used the testimony of police officers, who went to the couple’s downtown Los Angeles penthouse on the night of the argument, May 21, 2016, but said that they did not see any injuries on Heard. She also declined to file charges. When asked why Heard didn’t have Depp arrested then, the actress replied: “Why didn’t I cooperate with the police? As I have testified before, and I will stand by until my dying day, I didn’t want to cooperate with them. I didn’t want this to be out. I didn’t want this to be known. … I didn’t want to get him in trouble. If it was a hoax I could have done that.” Guthrie then responded by saying that Heard eventually did go to court five days later and the story came out. “Five days later I made a decision to stand up for myself and protect myself. You can’t get a restraining order in private, which of course I didn’t understand the night when the cops were called,” Heard replied, alluding to the restraining order she had issued against Depp.

On losing the case: Heard told Guthrie that she knew she wasn’t a “likeable” or “perfect victim.” “But when I testified, I asked the jury to just see me as human,” Heard said. When referring to Depp’s legal team, Heard said: “His lawyer did a better job at distracting the jury from the real issues.” Heard also suggested that jurors could have seen the social media messages against her, telling Guthrie, “I think the 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 is not immune to that.”

Why she still loves Depp: Amber Heard said that even after being humiliated through the trial and the verdict, she has “no bad feelings or ill will” toward her ex-husband. But her comments on Depp didn’t stop there. In another excerpt of her interview, Heard said that she still loves Depp. “I love him. I love him with all my heart. And I tried my best to make a deeply broken relationship work. And I couldn’t. I know that might be hard to understand or it might be really easy to understand. If you have just ever loved anyone, it should be easy.”