Amber Heard: Johnny Depp’s lawyers did ‘better job of distracting the jury from the real issues’

Actor Amber Heard said she spoke “truth to power” during Johnny Depp’s defamation case against her, claiming Depp’s lawyers distracted the jury from the “real issues.” 

In her first sit-down since a jury largely ruled against her in the high-profile case, Heard noted to NBC’s Savannah Guthrie on “Today” that a British judge had ruled against Depp in a similar case when more evidence was considered.

“I will say his lawyers did certainly a better job of distracting the jury from the real issues,” Heard said of the U.S. case.

A Fairfax County, Va., jury awarded Depp $15 million in damages earlier this month after finding a Washington Post op-ed about sexual violence that Heard penned in 2018 was defamatory and ruined her ex-husband’s career. 

The jury awarded Heard $2 million as part of a countersuit for a statement made by Depp’s lawyer.

In the United Kingdom, Depp filed a lawsuit against the publisher of The Sun newspaper, which had labeled Depp a “wife beater.” The judge ruled that 12 of 14 incidents of alleged domestic abuse presented to the court were “substantially true.” 

“There was another trial, dealt with the same substantive issues that had even more evidence in,” Heard told Guthrie. “In fact, my evidence was largely kept out, really important pieces of evidence kept out.”

More of the interview is scheduled to air Wednesday on “Today” and Friday on “Dateline.”

Outside of the courtroom, Heard argued that social media did not provide a “fair representation” of the case. Clips of testimony posted to platforms like YouTube and TikTok had garnered millions of views.

“I would not blame the average person for looking at this and how it’s been covered, and not think that it is Hollywood brats at their worst,” Heard said. “But what people don’t understand is it’s actually so much bigger than that.”

Heard’s lawyer, Elaine Bredehoft, has said the actor plans to appeal the court’s ruling.

—Updated at 12:31 p.m.