By Kerry Breen - TODAY
Amber Heard
opened up to Savannah Guthrie about her ex-husband's high-profile defamation case that concluded earlier this month when a jury unanimously found the actress defamed
Johnny Depp
and awarded him more than $10 million in damages. .
In a preview of Heard's interview with NBC News, which will air Tuesday and Wednesday on the TODAY Show, and in an hour-long special Friday on Dateline, Heard criticized the role social media played in the trial. of six weeks that began on April 11 in Virginia.
"Even someone who is sure that I deserve all this hate and rancor, even if you think I'm lying, you still couldn't look me in the eye and tell me that you think there has been fair representation on social media," Heard said.
"You can't tell me that you think this has been fair."
Savannah Guthrie interviews Amber Heard.NBC News
The former couple clashed in court over a 2018 op-ed Heard wrote for
The Washington Post
that described herself as a survivor of domestic abuse.
He did not name Depp, though his lawyers argued the article references claims he made during their 2016 divorce. The
Pirates of the Caribbean
star sued Heard for $50 million, claiming the post affected his career.
She countersued for $100 million.
Depp has denied all allegations of abuse.
In 2020 Depp lost a libel suit in the UK that raised some of the same issues.
The actor sued a newspaper after it claimed he assaulted Heard.
A judge had ruled that the newspaper's claims were "substantially true."
That trial was not disclosed to jurors in Virginia, according to Heard's attorney.
Jurors in Virginia were ordered not to read or investigate the case, but they were not isolated.
On social media, particularly TikTok, people overwhelmingly supported Depp during the libel trial.
On June 3, the
hashtag
#justiceforjohnnydepp had almost 20 billion views on the famous social network, while #justiceforamberheard had more than 80 million.
Hashtags like
#amberheardguilty
had 900 million views on social media at the time.
[Amber Heard's Lawyer Says Johnny Depp Trial Outcome "Is a Setback for All Women"]
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Although the jury was instructed to stay away from social media, Heard's legal team insisted it still impacted the case.
“There's no way they haven't been influenced by that.
It was horrible,"
Elaine Charlson Bredehoft
told the TODAY Show on June 2.
"This really was lopsided."
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In an appearance on the TODAY Show on June 8, Depp's attorneys,
Benjamin Chew
and
Camille Vasquez
, said there was "no reason to believe jurors violated their oath" by engaging on social media.
[Johnny Depp's Lawyers Call Rumors of Online Campaign for Depp "Absurd" and "False"]
In the end, the seven-person jury unanimously found "clear and convincing evidence" that Heard defamed Depp, awarding him $15 million in combined compensatory and punitive damages.
The judge reduced the punitive damages, bringing the total amount Heard owes Depp to $10.4 million.
The jury also awarded Heard $2 million in compensatory damages after they found that one of Depp's lawyers had defamed her.
Despite the verdict and the response online, Heard told Savannah that she is not offended by public opinion of her.
"I don't care what you think of me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home, in my marriage, behind closed doors," Heard said.
"I don't think the average person should know these things, so I don't take it personally."
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Heard also said she doesn't blame the jury for ruling against her.
"I actually get it," she said.
“[Johnny] is a beloved character and people feel like he knows him.
He is a fantastic actor
. ”
Bredehoft, Heard's attorney, told Savannah that her client plans to appeal the verdict.
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