Amber Heard has claimed she is "terrified" of being sued again by her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
The Aquaman star reflected on her multi-million dollar defamation trial against Depp in an explosive sit-down interview with NBC News' Savannah Guthrie, which aired as a Dateline special last night (June 17).
Among the many headline-making statements that Heard came out with during the interview was the admission that she is afraid to speak out again, and feels like her "right to speak" has been impeded.
"I took for granted what I assumed was my right to speak, not just what I lived through but what I knew," the actor said.
When asked by Guthrie whether she was concerned Depp might sue her again, Heard answered: "I'm terrified."
"I guess that’s what a defamation lawsuit is meant to do, it’s meant to take your voice," she added.
Heard was initially sued by the Pirates of the Caribbean star over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed, in which she claimed to be a survivor of domestic abuse.
Though he was not mentioned by name, Depp's legal team argued that the article was clearly referring to him and that the subsequent nose-dive his career took was a knock-on effect of Heard's comments.
After a blockbuster trial that waged for almost two months in Fairfax, Virginia, jurors announced that they had sided with Depp and ordered Heard to pay him over $10 million in damages.
Elsewhere in her interview with Guthrie, the 36-year-old actor spoke about the potentially "chilling effect" the ruling could have on other victims of domestic abuse.
"If you have proof then it was a scheme, it was a hoax. If you don’t have proof it didn’t happen. If you have a bruise, it’s fake. If you don’t have a bruise, then violence clearly didn’t hurt you. If you told people, then you’re hysterical. If you didn’t tell anyone, it didn’t happen," she said of how the verdict could be viewed through many women's eyes.
She also confirmed that she plans to appeal the court's decisions, saying: "I hope this doesn’t have the chilling effect that I worry it may have on other people."
