Amber Heard says social media's coverage of the trial was unfair in a new interview

Amber Heard gave her first interview since the verdict in her trial with Johnny Depp. The highly personal six-week trial was a media frenzy, and while the jury found both parties liable they largely favored Depp. During the legal proceedings Heard gave emotional, tear-filled testimony about physical, emotional, and sexual abuse she alleges she endured during her marriage to the star. Conversely, Depp’s team argued that he in fact was the victim of abuse. They also argued that Heard was not credible and using the high profile case as a platform to further her career.

The Today Show on Monday aired the first of a three-part interview with Heard discussing the outcome with Savannah Guthrie.

“There’s no polite way to say it, the jury looked at the evidence you presented, they listened to your testimony, and they did not believe you. They thought you were lying,” Guthrie prodded. Heard rationalized, “How could they make a judgement? How could they not come to that conclusion? They sat in those seats and heard over three weeks of non stop, relentless testimony from paid employees, and towards the end of the trial ‘randos,’ as I say,” speaking on the way Depp’s team attacked her character in court. “I don't blame them. I actually understand,” Heard said of the jury, adding, “He's a beloved character and people feel they know him. He's a fantastic actor.”

Heard also spoke to the wildfire of negativity about her on the internet since the legal proceedings began. “I don't take it personally," she said. "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.”

For four years since her 2018 op-ed in the Washington Post, which was central to the defamation case against her, Depp has largely been persona non grata. He went into this trial having already lost a 2020 defamation case in the UK against The Sun for calling him a “wife beater,” in which the judge admitted in his ruling, “I accept [Heard’s] evidence of the nature of the assaults [Depp] committed against her. They must have been terrifying.” But the tables turned when the same evidence was presented in the Virginia courtroom. Depp came out a victor with his reputation restored, while Heard’s character was on trial in a visceral way. Depp has gone so far as to start creating NFTs in a project called “Never Fear Truth” that pontificate on his seeming vindication. Heard will continue to tell her story as more of her interview airs Tuesday and Wednesday on the Today Show and in full in an episode of Dateline on Friday.