A source tells PEOPLE that Amber Heard “is still weighing her legal options, but right now, she needs some breathing room” after the Johnny Depp trial
Amber Heard is embracing the next chapter of her life following the recently wrapped defamation court battle with her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
A source tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue that the Aquaman actress, 36, is “doing okay” following the verdict and that while “she feels drained and exhausted after the trial,” she “is trying her best to have a positive outlook.”
“She is happy to spend every day with her baby girl [daughter Oonagh Paige, 14 months],” the insider says. “Her sister [Whitney Henriquez] is also her biggest supporter. They spend a lot time together.”
Earlier this month, Depp, 59, won all three defamation claims in his case against Heard over her 2018 op-ed about coming forward as a survivor of domestic abuse. The jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages but Heard will only have to pay $10.35 million due to a Virginia law capping punitive damages (the judge reduced the amount).
Additionally, Heard was awarded $2 million in damages for her counterclaims against Depp. The actress’s attorney has said that Heard will “absolutely” appeal the verdict against her.
“Amber is still disappointed about the jury’s verdict,” says the source. “She is still weighing her legal options, but right now, she needs some breathing room to just enjoy the summer.”
Heard previously called the verdict a “setback” for women and told Today’s Savannah Guthrie that she’s “scared” it will mean more “silencing” for survivors looking to come forward. (Depp, meanwhile, has maintained that he never laid a hand on Heard, and has accused her of physically harming him.)
“How do you see your future now?” asked Guthrie, to which Heard responded with a smile, “I get to be a mom, like, full time, you know? Where I’m not having to juggle calls with lawyers.”
Guthrie, 50, then said, “One day you may want to tell your daughter about this or have to tell your daughter about everything that you’ve gone through. What would you want to say?”
“I think no matter what,” said Heard, “it will mean something. I did the right thing. I did everything I could to stand up for myself and the truth.”
Heard also said in the interview with Guthrie that she has “so much regret” for what transpired during her past relationship with the Pirates of the Caribbean actor, whom she was married to from 2015 to 2017.
“I did do and say horrible, regrettable things throughout my relationship. I behaved in horrible, almost unrecognizable to myself ways,” the actress said. “I freely and openly and voluntarily talked about what I did. I talked about the horrible language. I talked about being pushed to the extent where I didn’t even know the difference between right and wrong.”
“I will always continue to feel like I was a part of this, like I was the other half of this relationship because I was. And it was ugly, and could be very beautiful. It was very, very toxic,” she continued. “We were awful to each other.”
And while Heard admitted she “made a lot of mistakes,” she insisted in her conversation with Guthrie, “To my dying day, I will stand by every word of my testimony.”
For more on Amber Heard, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.
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