In new clips released by NBC on the TODAY show, Amber Heard can be seen admitting that she has “made a lot of mistakes”, but sticking to the claims that she has “always told the truth”.
The comments come in a sit down with broadcaster Savannah Guthrie, ahead of an hour-long interview special which is set to air in full on Friday (June 17th, 2022).
Heard also responds to Johnny Depp's lawyer Camille Vasquez's remark, that Heard had given "the performance of a lifetime" throughout the Depp v Heard trial; especially when taking to the witness stand.
She replies: "Says the lawyer for the man who convinced the world he had scissors for fingers? I'm the performer."
Heard then added: "I had listened to weeks of testimony insinuating that, or saying quite directly, that I'm a terrible actress. So, I'm a bit confused how I could be both."
Depp was awarded $15 million (reduced to $10.4 million) in damages by a jury on June 1st, 2022 in his defamation lawsuit lodged against Heard, over an op-ed she had written for The Washington Post in 2018. There, she identified as a "public figure representing domestic abuse", and whilst the article didn't name Depp, his lawyers said it was implied that he was the abusive figure in their past relationship. He has denied all allegations of abuse.
Speaking about the alleged physical violence in their marriage, Heard told Guthrie: "I never had to instigate it. I responded to it. When you're living in violence and it becomes normal, as I testified to, you have to adapt."
Guthrie pointed out that audio tapes had been submitted as evidence in the Depp v Heard trial in which Heard is recording saying she started the fight, but the actress has a response to that, too.
"I know much has been made of these audio tapes," Heard said. "They were first leaked online after being edited. What you would hear in those clips are not evidence of what was happening. It was evidence of a negotiation of how to talk about that with your abuser."
"As I testified on the stand about this, when your life is at risk, not only will you take the blame for things that you shouldn’t take the blame for, but when you’re in an abusive dynamic, psychologically, emotionally, and physically, you don’t have the resources that say you or I do with the luxury of saying, 'Hey, this is black and white,'" she added. "Because it’s anything but when you’re living in it."
She concluded by saying that "twenty-second clips or the transcripts of them are not representative of even the two hours or the three hours that those clips are excerpted from".
The rest of the exclusive interview will air first on NBC News’ TODAY, Wednesday, June 15. More of the sit-down will air Friday, June 17 at 8 p.m. ET/7 p.m. CT on a special Dateline. The interview will be available on TODAY.com following the broadcast, and the special hour of Dateline will be available on Peacock.
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