Amber Heard Says She Felt 'Less Than Human' During Johnny Depp Trial

Actress Amber Heard spoke with TODAY in the first part of an interview with Savannah Guthrie for NBC News.

A spokesperson for Amber Heard told The Blast that “Johnny Depp’s legal team blanketed the media for days after the verdict with numerous statements and interviews on television, and Depp himself did the same on social media. Ms. Heard simply intended to respond to what they aggressively did last week; she did so by expressing her thoughts and feelings, much of which she was not allowed to do on the witness stand.”

During the interview, the “Aquaman” actress was pressed on what she said on the witness stand.

When Guthrie asked if the jury’s verdict had “sunk in,” Heard replied, “How could it?” She described it as “surreal” and “difficult,” saying this was “a long time coming.”

Heard said that she stood by what she said on the stand, saying, “To my dying die, I stand by every word of my testimony.”

“I think the vast majority of this trial was played out on social media,” Heard continued. “I think this trial is an example of that gone haywire.” She said the jury “was not immune to that.” When Guthrie asked her if she believed the jury was exposed to social media during the trial, Heard asked, “How could they not? I think even the most well-intentioned juror… it would have been impossible to avoid this.”

“Every single day, I passed … city blocks lined with people holding signs saying burn the witch, death to Amber…” she said, adding that once she got inside the courtroom, it was “packed full of Captain Jack Sparrow fans who were vocal, energized.”

“This was the most humiliating and horrible thing I’ve ever been through,” Heard continued. “I have never felt more removed from my own humanity. I felt less than human.”

“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,” she continued. “You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”

When asked if Depp’s team maybe just had better lawyers, Amber Heard said, “I will say his lawyers did certainly a better job of distracting the jurors from the real issues.”

Guthrie then said that some people were “disgusted by the whole thing,” nothing that some did not have “much sympathy for either one of you.”

“I would not blame the average person for looking at this and how it’s been covered, and not thinking that it is Hollywood brats at their worst, but what people don’t understand is that it’s actually so much bigger than that,” Heard replied. “This is not only about First Amendment rights to speak.”

Guthrie quickly interjected, saying that free speech only protects free speech, and not defamation, which is what a seven-person jury said that Heard committed in her 2018 Washington Post op-ed even though she did not mention Depp by name.

“It doesn’t protect lies that amount to defamation,” Guthrie said, to which Heard agreed and gave her interpretation of the First Amendment.

Although Heard said that she sought the “freedom to speak truth to power,” Guthrie replied, “That was the issue.” Heard insisted that she did speak the truth during her testimony, saying that she “paid the price” for speaking out.

Depp’s attorneys had put out a statement saying that Heard gave “the performance of a lifetime” while on the stand. When asked how she felt about those remarks, Heard insinuated that Depp was the real performer in the trial. She also pointed to comments that said she was a “bad actress,” adding, “I’m a bit confused as to how I could be both.”

Guthrie also pressed her on claims that she instigated the violence in the relationship. “I never had to instigate it, I responded to it,” Heard said. “When you're living in violence and it becomes normal, as I testified to, you have to adapt.”

Guthrie then pointed out tapes where Heard acknowledges that she hit Depp, and other clips where Heard admitted that she started the fight. “I know much has been made of these audio tapes,” Heard said, claiming that they were first leaked online after being edited. Heard described them as evidence of a “negotiation.”

Guthrie then pulled out a transcript of one of Heard’s tapes, where she said, “I did start a physical fight, I can’t promise you I won’t get physical again.” Guthrie called out Heard’s comments, “It’s here on black and white” and pointed out that Heard just told her that she didn’t start physical fights, when it was right there in the audio transcript.

“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 … you don’t have the resources to say it’s black and white because it is anything but when you’re living in it.”

Guthrie then brought up the tape where she is “taunting” Depp, telling him to tell the world that he is a survivor of domestic violence.

“Twenty-second clips or the transcripts of them are not representative of the two hours or three hours that those clips are taken from,” Heard said, to which Guthrie asked if her legal team could have just submitted the whole two or three hours as evidence.

“I’m not a lawyer,” Heard quipped.

Guthrie then asked, “He says he never hit you. Is that a lie?”

“Yes, that is,” Heard replied.

When asked about the witnesses that saw her initiate physical violence, Heard replied, “I’ve seen firsthand how people will file rank and support a person they depend on.”

“They all come in and lie in court?” Guthrie asked.

Heard said that she didn’t want to call anyone any names and she only wanted to tell her story from her perspective.

When Guthrie mentioned that Depp’s lawyers claimed that Heard never took responsibility for anything she did in the marriage, Heard replied, “I did do and say horrible, regrettable things throughout my relationship. I behaved in almost recognizable to myself ways. I have so much regret. I freely, and openly, and voluntarily talked about what I did.”

Heard added that she was pushed to the extent where she couldn’t tell right from wrong. “It was ugly and could be very beautiful,” she continued, calling the relationship “very, very toxic.”

“We were awful to each other,” Heard said before she admitted that she made “a lot of mistakes.” However, she insisted that she “always told the truth.”