Amber Heard, Johnny Depp‘s ex-wife, who lost a high-profile defamation case earlier this month, insisted that she told the truth in her testimony and that social media may have influenced the jury’s decision.
A seven-member jury concluded that Heard defamed Depp and that he was entitled to $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages in the dual defamation trial between the actress and the Pirates of the Caribbean star. Depp was given a total of $10.35 million. Punitive damages in Virginia are limited at $350,000.
“To my dying day, I’ll stand by every word of my testimony,” Heard said in an interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.
“I made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve always told the truth. His lawyer did a better job at distracting the jury from the real issues. This is the most humiliating and horrible thing I’ve ever been through.
“I did do and say horrible, regrettable things throughout my relationship. I behaved in horrible, almost unrecognizable to myself ways. I have so much regret.”
Heard also claimed that authoring the op-ed was an exercise of her First Amendment right.
“It’s the freedom to speak truth to power… and that’s all I spoke,” she said.
They clashed and disparaged one other in recordings and texts.
Heard tells Depp in recorded talks that she didn’t “punch” him, but rather “was hitting” him and that he has to “grow the f*** up.” Depp was described by witnesses as a dominating spouse who was addicted to drugs and alcohol.
“As I testified on the stand about this, is that when your life is at risk, not only will you take the blame for things you shouldn’t take the blame for, but when you’re in an abusive dynamic – psychologically, emotionally and physically – you don’t have the resources…or the luxury of saying, ‘Hey, this is black and white,’ because it’s anything but when you’re living in it,” Heard stated when pressed by Guthrie about her admissions in the tape.
Heard went on to add that her relationship with Depp was both “beautiful” and “very toxic”.
“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,” she admitted.
“It was very, very toxic. We were awful to each other. I made a lot of mistakes… but I’ve always told the truth.”
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