Amber Heard Says She 'Absolutely' Still Loves Johnny Depp Despite Trial

Actress Amber Heard spoke to Today co-host Savannah Guthrie in part two of her NBC News interview that aired on Wednesday morning.

Her ex-husband Johnny Depp had sued her for defamation for a 2018 Washington op-ed she wrote where she declared herself a survivor of domestic violence. A seven-person jury ruled that defamation had indeed occurred and awarded Depp over $10 million dollars, even though she never mentioned Depp by name.

Although they divorced in 2016, Heard published the op-ed two years later, in 2018, at the height of the Me Too movement. “Life had seemingly moved on,” Guthrie noted. “Why did you do that?”

Heard insisted that the “op-ed wasn’t about my relationship with Johnny.” When Guthrie pointed out that it “alluded” to him, the “Aquaman” actress said that “the op-ed was about me lending my voice to a bigger cultural conversation we were having at the time.”

Guthrie asked her if she was concerned that the op-ed would “stir things up” again after the divorce was already finalized. Heard said that “it was important for me not to make it about him or do anything like defame.” She added that she had “lawyers, teams of lawyers, review all the drafts” to make sure no defamation occurred in the op-ed.

“You wrote this op-ed. It was the height of Me Too,” Guthrie pointed out. “Legions of powerful men being canceled. Losing their jobs. Did you want that to happen to Johnny Depp?”

“Of course not. It wasn’t about him,” Heard insisted.

On May 21, 2016, the police were called to the L.A. penthouse where the couple lived. The police officers testified that they saw no bruises on Heard’s face and Heard herself declined to press charges.

When asked why she didn’t cooperate with the police, Heard said, “As I have testified before, and I will stand by until my dying day, I didn’t want to cooperate with them. I didn’t want this to be out. I didn’t want this to be known.”

She added that she “didn’t want to get [Depp] in trouble,” adding, “If it was a hoax, I could have done that.” Heard was awarded $2 million dollars from her countersuit after one of Depp’s attorneys labeled her abuse claims a “hoax.”

Guthrie quickly pointed out that, although she didn’t press charges that night, “five days later you went to court and it came out.”

“Five days later I made a decision to stand up for myself and protect myself,” Heard said. “You can’t get a restraining order in private, which of course I didn’t understand the night when the cops were called.”

Guthrie also pressed Heard on her pledge to donate $7 million dollars from her divorce settlement to various charities. Guthrie pointed out that Heard had already said on air in a previous televised interview before the trial that she had donated it. However, Depp’s legal team showed that Heard hadn’t actually donated the money. Guthrie then asked, “Do you think that raised questions as to your credibility with the jury?”

Heard said that she “made a pledge” and that the pledge was meant to be made over time, not in a lump sum. However, Guthrie was quick to challenge her.

“You say, ‘I donated.’ You know that everybody thinks that you donated it, not that you pledged it,” Guthrie said. “So for the jurors sitting there, do you think they felt like that was you getting caught in a lie?”

“I don’t know,” Heard confessed, adding, “I feel like so much of the trial was meant to cast aspersions on who I am as a human, my credibility, to call me a liar in every way he can.”

Looking ahead, Heard wants to be a “full-time” mom to her daughter, Oonagh Paige Heard. When Guthrie asked what she will tell her daughter about the trial when she grows up, Heard said, “No matter what, it will mean something. I did the right thing. I did everything I could to stand up for myself and the truth.”

That being said, she also said that she had “no bad feelings or ill will” towards her ex-husband. She actually admitted that she “absolutely” still loves the “Pirates of the Caribbean” actor.

“I love him. I loved him with all my heart,” Heard said, “And I tried my best to make a deeply broken relationship work. And I couldn’t. I have no bad feelings or ill will towards him at all. I know that might be hard to understand or it might be really easy to understand. If you have just ever loved anyone, it should be easy.”