Actress Amber Heard lost big earlier this month, both at the hands of a Fairfax County, Virginia, jury and in the court of public opinion.
Nevertheless, she came out swinging in her first interview since the verdict, claiming to stand by everything she said in her testimony — to her “dying day.”
This may not be the smartest strategy considering her loss in court means she already owes her former husband $8.35 million. Heard was ordered to pay $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages to Johnny Depp in his $50 million defamation suit against her, but fortunately for Heard, Virginia state law places a $350,000 cap on punitive damages, according to NBC News. And Depp was ordered to pay $2 million to Heard in her $100 million countersuit.
Now, the actress risks opening up another legal battle over remarks made during an interview with NBC News host Savannah Guthrie recorded last Thursday.
The video below showed the first of three portions of the interview. This segment aired on the “Today” show on Tuesday morning. The full interview will air on “Dateline” this Friday evening.
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Heard came across as unlikable, insincere and just as impossible to believe as she did throughout the trial. She doubled down on her victimhood and said that the media coverage had been “unfair.”
Guthrie questioned the actress about allegations made by Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez, whose brutal cross-examination of Heard went viral on social media during the trial. Vasquez accused her of lying and alleged she was “acting” on the stand.
Heard scoffed at the question. “Says the lawyer for the man who convinced the world he had scissors for fingers,” she replied, referring to Depp’s role as “Edward Scissorhands” in a 1990 film. “I’m the performer? I had listened to weeks of testimony insinuating that, or saying quite directly that, I’m a terrible actress. So I’m a bit confused how I could be both.”
Asked if she ever instigated physical violence, Heard replied, “I never had to instigate it. I responded to it. When you’re living in violence and it becomes normal, as I testified to, you have to adapt.”
Do you find it difficult to believe Amber Heard?
Guthrie interrupted to point out that there is evidence, tapes, in which Heard acknowledges hitting Depp and starting fights.
According to Heard, the tapes that were leaked online had been edited. She told Guthrie, “What you would hear in those clips [was] not evidence of what was happening, it was evidence of a negotiation, of how to talk about that with your abuser.”
After Guthrie read a portion of a recording, the actress said, “As I testified on the stand about this, when your life is at risk, not only will you take the blame for things that you shouldn’t take the blame for, but when you are in an abusive dynamic — psychologically, emotionally and physically — you don’t have the resources, that say you or I do, with the luxury of saying, ‘Hey this is black and white.’ Because it is anything but when you are living in it.”
“He says he never hit you, never. Is that a lie?” Guthrie asked Heard.
“Yes, it is,” the actress replied.
Guthrie pressed, “What about the witnesses who said they have seen you instigate physical violence?”
“I’ve seen firsthand how people will file rank and support the person they depend on.”
“Did they all come in and lie in court?” Guthrie asked.
Heard answered that she wasn’t here “to call any of his witnesses any names. I’m here to just kind of here to talk about it from what it felt like for me as a person.”
Guthrie said she’d asked Depp’s lawyers why they think Depp won. They told her it was “because she never took responsibility for anything she did in the marriage.”
“I did do and say horrible, regrettable things throughout my relationship,” Heard admitted. “I behaved in horrible, almost unrecognizable to myself ways. I have so much regret. 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,” she said, almost as if the realization were a surprise to her.
“And it was ugly. And it could be very beautiful. It was very, very toxic. We were awful to each other. I made a lot of, a lot of, a lot of mistakes. But I’ve always told the truth.”
Nobody believes she told the truth. And that’s why she now owes $8.35 million to her ex-husband.
Heard’s comments could easily be considered additional defamation by Johnny Depp’s legal team, hence the potential to open up another court battle.
It’s unwise, especially because during an interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos last Wednesday, Depp’s attorneys, Vasquez and Ben Chew, hinted that Depp just might waive his ex-wife’s debt if she drops her appeal.
In the video above, Stephanopoulos noted that “Heard’s lawyers say she plans to appeal the verdict. She doesn’t have the money to pay for the judgment. And you all have said that the goal is not to impoverish Ms. Heard. Is it possible we could see a settlement where she foregoes the appeal in return for Mr. Depp waiving any monetary damages?”
“Well George, we obviously can’t disclose attorney-client communications,” Chew replied.
“But, as Mr. Depp testified and as we both made clear in our respective closings, this was never about money for Mr. Depp. This was about restoring his reputation, and he’s done that.”
“So you’re not disclosing any privileges, but it sounds like that’s something that could be on the table, but it’s up to Ms. Heard?” Stephanopoulos asked.
“Again, we have to be careful what we say. But this was about Mr. Depp’s reputation. That was what it was about for him.”
Heard did herself no favors by sitting down with Guthrie. But she just doesn’t seem capable of stopping herself.
