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As it happenedended

Amber Heard news: Actor says ‘binder’ of evidence not allowed in Depp trial could have changed verdict

Follow for the latest updates on the aftermath of the Amber Heard v Johnny Depp trial

Oliver O'Connell,Megan Sheets ,Rachel Sharp
Monday 20 June 2022 15:23 BST
Amber Heard says she still loves Johnny Depp

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Amber Heard has claimed that a “binder” of evidence including therapist notes and text messages that the jury didn’t see could have changed the verdict in her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Ms Heard’s full interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie aired on Dateline on Friday night, where the Aquaman actor said that her therapist had contemporaneously documented her allegations of abuse since 2011.

According to the notes, Ms Heard told her therapist that Mr Depp “hit her, threw her on floor” in an alleged incident in 2012.

Ms Heard’s team also shared text messages including where she appeared to tell her father that Mr Depp had kicked her on an airplane.

The notes and texts were not allowed as evidence in the case after the judge ruled them inadmissible.

Mr Depp has denied ever abusing Ms Heard.

On Thursday, Mr Depp’s team responded to Ms Heard’s interview saying: “It’s unfortunate that while Johnny is looking to move forward with his life, the defendant and her team are back to repeating, reimagining and re-litigating matters that have already been decided by the court and a verdict that was unequivocally decided by a jury in Johnny’s favor.”

Heard opens up about intense security around her during trial

Amber Heard opened up to Savannah Guthrie about the protective measures that were implemented for her during the trial as Johnny Depp fans gathered outside the courthouse each day.

“Every single day I passed city blocks lined with people holding signs saying things that I couldn’t repeat on television,” she said.

“They had to establish barricades to protect me so I could drive into a protected entrance of the courthouse. Every single day that’s how I walked in the court.”

Further, she commented on her lawyers fighting to keep TV cameras out of the court.

The Independent’s Inga Parkel has the full story:

Amber Heard discusses ‘barricades’ and ‘protected entrance’ used to enter courthouse

‘Every single day I passed city blocks lined with people holding signs saying things that I couldn’t repeat on television,’ actor explained

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 04:30

Heard grilled by Guthrie over $7m divorce settlement

Amber Heard was grilled by Savannah Guthrie about being “caught in a lie” over her pledge to donate her $7m divorce settlement to charity, in the actor’s first sitdown interview since her bombshell defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Ms Guthrie put Ms Heard on the spot over the discrepancies between her pledge and the actual payments made, questioning whether this raised doubts about her “credibility” among the jury.

“Do you think to the jurors sitting there that was you getting caught in a lie?” probed Ms Guthrie, whose husband works for Mr Depp’s legal team, in a clip from the interview aired Wednesday.

Ms Heard defended the furore over the charitable donation, saying that the trial was used to try to paint her as “a liar” and arguing that she shouldn’t have had to pledge her entire settlement in the first place for people to believe her accusations of abuse against her ex-husband.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Amber Heard grilled by Savannah Guthrie over pledge to donate $7m divorce settlement

Aquaman actress came under intense scrutiny during the six-week defamation trial after it emerged that she had not yet donated the full $7m settlement to charity

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 05:30

Heard says she doesn’t blame jury

Amber Heard said she doesnt blame the jury for siding against her in her defamation battle against Johnny Depp as she sat down with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie for her first televised interview since the verdict.

“I don’t blame them. I actually understand. He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor,” Ms Heard said.

The Independent’s Gustaf Kilander has the full story:

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 06:30

Juror says was charity donation was ‘fiasco’ for Heard

An anonymous juror in the defamation trial said the revelation that Amber Heard didn’t donate her $7m divorce settlement to charity as she’d claimed was “a fiasco” in the eyes of the jury.

The male juror lifted the lid on deliberations in an interview with GMA aired Thursday and referenced a portion of the trial where Ms Heard was questioned about the $7m she claimed to have donated to charity following her divorce from Johnny Depp in 2016.

“She goes on a talk show in the UK,” he said. “The video shows her sitting there telling the host she gave all that money away.”

“And the terms she used in that video clip were ‘I gave it away’, ‘I donated it’, ‘it’s gone’,” he added. “But the fact is, she didn’t give much of it away at all.”

The Independent’s Gustaf Kilander has the full story:

Depp trial juror says revelation Heard didn’t donate $7m settlement was ‘a fiasco’

‘A lot of Amber’s story didn’t add up – majority of the jury felt she was more the aggressor,’ male juror says

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 07:30

Heard’s text message to therapist: ‘Johnny did a number on me tonight’

In a text message Amber Heard claims to have sent to her therapist on 16 December 2015, she wrote:

“Johnny did a number on me tonight. I’m safe and with my support tonight but I need some real help. Can I come tomorrow.

“I called earlier because I thought I had a concussion and didn’t know if I should have called police. But I have a nurse close to me.”

The text message was part of what Ms Heard said was a trove of evidence that she claims helped prove her allegations of abuse by her ex-husband Johnny Depp but was not presented to the jury at trial.

Mr Depp denies ever abusing Ms Heard.

Jurors were not shown the text messages after the judge ruled them to be inadmissible.

They were shared with NBC’s Dateline by Ms Heard’s team for her sitdown interview with Savannah Guthrie.

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 08:30

What is Savannah Guthrie’s connection to Depp?

Heard’s decision to give her first post-verdict interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie is interesting - given the broadcaster’s husband’s links to Depp.

The Independent’s Joe Sommerlad explains:

What is Savannah Guthrie’s connection to Johnny Depp?

NBC anchor hosting sitdown with actress after defamation trial defeat despite the former’s husband being directly involved in case

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 09:30

Heard says therapist has ‘binder’ of notes about alleged abuse

Amber Heard says her doctor kept contemporaneous notes of the physical abuse she suffered while married to Johnny Depp.

In her interview with Savannah Guthrie, Ms Heard explained that she had been reporting physical abuse within her relationship since 2011. The couple married in 2015.

“There’s a binder worth of years of notes dating back to 2011, from the very beginning of my relationship, that were taken by my doctor who I was reporting the abuse to,” she said.

Ms Guthrie and her reporting team at NBC looked at the notes to confirm what Heard had been telling her therapist since 2012.

According to Guthrie, in January 2012, Heard told her therapist that Depp “hit her, threw her on the floor”.

The Independent’s Amanda Whiting has the full story:

Amber Heard claims she has ‘binder’ of notes about physical abuse from Johnny Depp

The actor says she told her therapist about the abuse starting in 2011

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 10:30

Heard suggests Depp’s exes are afraid to accuse him of abuse

Amber Heard has suggested that Johnny Depp’s other former partners may be too afraid of a backlash to come forward with accusations of abuse against the Pirates of the Caribbean star.

In her interview on NBC’s Dateline on Friday night, the Aquaman actor responded to a question from Savannah Guthrie about why she is the only one of Mr Depp’s exes to publicly accuse him of violence.

“Look what happened to me when I came forward,” she said. “Would you?”

Throughout the couple’s explosive defamation trial in Fairfax, Virginia, Ms Heard testified about multiple alleged incidents of abuse.

Mr Depp denied ever abusing Ms Heard and instead claimed that she was the abuser in their relationship.

In a dramatic moment of the trial, supermodel Kate Moss testified that her ex-boyfriend Mr Depp was never violent to her when they dated in the 1990s.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Amber Heard suggests Johnny Depp’s exes are afraid to accuse him of violence

At one dramatic moment of the trial, supermodel Kate Moss testified that her ex-boyfriend Johnny Depp never hit her

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 11:30

Heard says speaking out about alleged sexual violence is ‘scariest thing’

Amber Heard described speaking out about the alleged sexual violence that she suffered as the “scariest, most intimidating thing” in her first interview since a jury sided with Johnny Depp in their defamation case.

The Aquaman actor told Savannah Guthrie in her interview on NBC’s Dateline on Friday night that she was “terrified” about being cross-examined by her ex-husband’s legal team and “not being believed” about her allegations.

“The scariest, most intimidating thing for anybody talking about sexual violence is not being believed, being called a liar, or being humiliated,” she said.

Ms Heard told Ms Guthrie, whose husband has worked as a consultant for Mr Depp’s legal team, that she was not being “vindictive” by sitting down for an interview in the aftermath of the case.

The Independent’s Rachel Sharp has the full story:

Amber Heard says speaking out about alleged sexual violence is the ‘scariest thing’

‘The scariest, most intimidating thing for anybody talking about sexual violence is not being believed, being called a liar, or being humiliated,’ she tells Savannah Guthrie

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 12:30

Heard claims texts to family show abuse

Amber Heard claimed that text messages she sent to friends and family during her relationship with Johnny Depp are evidence of the physical abuse she suffered during their marriage.

In her interview with NBC’s Savannah Guthrie, Ms Heard’s legal team shared multiple messages she had sent to her therapist and her father.

The text messages were not presented as evidence to the jury in the defamation trial after the judge deemed them inadmissible in court.

The Independent’s Amanda Whiting has the full story:

Amber Heard claims text messages are evidence of physical abuse from Johnny Depp

The actor claims evidence not shown at trial supports her allegations

Rachel Sharp20 June 2022 13:30

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