Amber Heard calls out social media trolling in her first public interview about Johnny Depp defamation trial: “I understand jury, but social media wasn’t fair”
Written by Shresta Dutt on June 14, 2022
Amber Heard sat down for her first public interview since she lost the defamation trial against her former husband Johnny Depp. She revealed that she doesn’t “blame” the jury for siding with Depp but called the social media frenzy surrounding her case as it overwhelmingly appeared to favour Depp.
In an interview with Today Show, Amber Heard opened up about the verdict and talked about the social media ‘hate and vitriol’ she faced. “I don’t blame them,” Heard said. “I actually understand. He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor,” she said of Depp. However, referring to the extended negative social media coverage she faced, Heard said she believed her treatment had been unfair.
“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,” she 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.”
In 2019, Depp filed a $50-million defamation lawsuit against Heard over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post where she called herself “a public figure representing domestic abuse” but did not mention Depp by name. In 2021, Heard filed a $100-million countersuit regarding public statements made by Depp’s former attorney who dismissed her allegations of domestic violence as a “hoax.”
After weeks of trial, the final verdict was announced and Depp was awarded $10 million in compensatory damages along with $5 million in punitive damages, substantially less than the $50 million he asked for in his lawsuit. Heard won one of her counterclaims against Depp and the jury awarded her $2 million in damages.
