Amber Heard says she still loves Johnny Depp and will donate divorce settlement
LOS ANGELES - Even after going through an acrimonious divorce and losing a defamation suit, actress Amber Heard says she still loves ex-husband Johnny Depp.
In the second part of her first post-trial interview on Wednesday (June 15), Heard, 36, spoke to NBC News' Savannah Guthrie on the Today morning show about her life after the verdict. A full interview will air on Dateline on Friday (June 17).
"I love him. I loved him with all my heart. And I tried the best I could to make a deeply broken relationship work. I couldn't. No bad feelings or ill will towards him at all," she said. "I know that might be hard to understand or it might be really easy to understand. If you've ever loved anyone, it should be easy."
When asked if she's worried about being sued again by Depp, 59, for defamation, Heard said, "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."
The former celebrity couple, who split up in 2017 after two years together, had battled it out in court in a bitter defamation suit which ended this month.
Depp sued Heard over an op-ed she wrote for The Washington Post in December 2018 in which she described herself as a "public figure representing domestic abuse".
The jury found on June 1 that Depp and Heard had defamed each other, but weighed in far more strongly with Depp. He was awarded US$10.35 million (S$14.4 million) in damages, in contrast with US$2 million awarded to Heard.
The actress also said in the interview clip that she still intends to donate the US$7 million settlement from her divorce.
"I made a pledge and that pledge is made over time by its nature," she said.
It had come out during the trial that she claimed to have donated the full amount to the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles when she had not done so.
When Guthrie pressed her on whether her failure to fulfil the donation had damaged her credibility, Heard said: "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, my credibility, to call me a liar in every way you can."
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