Amber Heard breaks silence on 'unfair' $8million Johnny Depp verdict

13 June 2022, 13:38 | Updated: 13 June 2022, 15:25

Amber Heard has broken her silence on her "unfair" defamation trial against ex-husband Johnny Depp for the first time since a jury ruled against her.

In an interview, the Aquaman actress claimed the verdict was the result of biased "social media representation" and accusing the actor of trying to sway the jury by putting "paid employees and randos" on the stand.

Pirates of the Caribbean star Depp was awarded compensatory damages of $10million (£8million) and a further $5million (£4million) in punitive damages.

In her first sit-down interview since losing her legal battle, Heard says she understands why the jury reached their verdict in favour of the actor.

She told NBC in America: "I actually understand. He's a beloved character and people feel they know him. He's a fantastic actor."

"I don’t care what one thinks about me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home, in my marriage, behind closed doors.

"I don’t presume the average person should know those things. And so I don’t take it personally," said Amber.

“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.

"You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”

A jury found a 2018 article Heard wrote for the Washington Post about her experiences as a survivor of domestic abuse to be defamatory and awarded $10.35million (£8.2 million) in damages to Depp.

Heard won on one count of her counter-suit, successfully arguing that Depp's press agent defamed her by claiming her allegations were "an abuse hoax" aimed at capitalising on the #MeToo movement.

The jury awarded her $2 million (£1.5 million) in damages.