Amber Heard mentioned she fears that she might face future defamation lawsuits by talking out about her risky relationship with Johnny Depp in a sit-down interview the place she additionally addressed her previous pledge to donate $7 million to charity.
In half three of an interview aired Wednesday with NBC News, the “Aquaman” actor mentioned she is “scared” that she dangers being eternally silenced after a choose earlier this month ordered her to pay $10 million in damages over a 2018 op-ed she revealed about home abuse.
The essay didn’t point out Depp by title however his attorneys efficiently argued to the jury that it not directly referred to their marriage.
“I’m scared that no matter what I do, no matter what I say, or how I say it — every step that I take will present another opportunity for this sort of — silencing, which is what, I guess, a defamation lawsuit is meant to do,” she informed NBC’s Savannah Guthrie.
Heard maintained that she did the best factor and “everything I could to stand up for myself and the truth” after publishing the op-ed in The Washington Post, although she continued to insist that it was by no means about her marriage with Depp.
“What the op-ed was about was … me loaning my voice to a bigger cultural conversation that we were having at the time,” she mentioned, with the essay being revealed on the top of the #MeToo motion.
Heard mentioned she had a staff of attorneys evaluation the essay earlier than it was revealed and that it was by no means her intention to “defame” Depp or get him “canceled” over it, saying she nonetheless has love for the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star.
Guthrie went on to query her credibility and the way the jury heard that she hasn’t fulfilled a 2016 promise to donate $3.5 million of her $7 million divorce settlement to the American Civil Liberties Union. Heard confronted intense questioning throughout her trial over her past claim that the cash has been donated. An ACLU executive testified that she has given lower than half of that cash, along with her final cost made in 2018.
“I made a pledge and that pledge is made over time by its nature,” Heard informed Guthrie of the funds.
“You said ‘I donated.’ You know that everyone thinks that you donated it, not that you pledged it. So to the jurors sitting there, do you think that they felt like that was you getting caught in a lie?” Guthrie requested.
“I don’t know, because I feel like so much of the trial was meant to cast aspersions on who I am as a human, to call me a liar in every way you can,” Heard responded.
“That was the trial. It was a credibility contest. That was it,” Guthrie mentioned.
Heard mentioned she nonetheless plans to honor that donation and pay it in full, NBC reported.
An hourlong particular of Heard’s interview will air Friday on “Dateline NBC” at 8 p.m./7 p.m. CT.