Amber Heard "still loves" Johnny Depp.
Amber Heard 'still loves' Johnny Depp
The 'Aquaman' actress has accused her ex-husband of being abusive but despite their recent bitter defamation trial - in which he was awarded damages after a judge ruled she had defamed the 59-year-old actor when she wrote an op-ed in 2018 about being a victim of domestic abuse - she insisted she harbours "no bad feelings or ill will" toward the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' star.
Asked by 'Today' host Savannah Guthrie if she stood by a statement released at the beginning of the trial, in which she said she "still has love" for Johnny, Amber replied: “Absolutely. I love him. I loved him with all my heart, and I tried the best I could to make a deeply broken relationship work and I couldn’t. I have no bad feelings or ill will towards him at all.
"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.”
Elsewhere during the clip, the 36-year-old actress claimed she is "scared" about what she says now and worries she will be sued again by her former spouse.
She said: "I took for granted what I assumed was my right to speak. 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 the sort of silencing — which is what a defamation lawsuit is meant to do; it's meant to take your voice."
In text messages revealed during the trial, the 'Black Mass' actor was said to have promised "global humiliation" for Amber, and she thinks that has come true.
She said: "I know he promised it. I testified to this. I'm not a good victim, I get it. I'm not a likable victim, I'm not a perfect victim. But when I testified I asked the jury to see me as human and to hear his own words, which is a promise to do this. It feels as though he has."
The 'Danish Girl' star insisted she never intended to hurt anyone with her op-ed, which never mentioned Johnny by name.
She said: "The op-ed wasn't about my relationship with Johnny. What the op-ed was about was me loaning my voice to the bigger cultural conversation that we were having at the time. ... It wasn't about him.
"I obviously knew I was important for me not to make it about him or do anything like defame him. I had teams of lawyers review all the drafts of him."
Clips from the interview have been broadcast on 'Today' this week, but the full conversation will air in full on a 'Dateline' special on Friday (17.06.22).
Tagged in Amber Heard Johnny Depp Savannah Guthrie