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Two days before she is set to defend herself against Johnny Depp’s $50 million defamation suit, Amber Heard took to Instagram to say she has “always maintained a love for Johnny” despite publicly feuding for years.
The trial in a Fairfax, Va. court begins Monday, where a jury will ultimately decide if Heard defamed Depp in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed implying he was a domestic abuser —which the actor says hurt his reputation and cost him work.
The headline of Heard’s piece read: “I spoke up against sexual violence — and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”
In her Instagram post Saturday, Heard addressed the op-ed, writing: “I never named him, rather I wrote about the price women pay for speaking against men in power. I continue to pay that price, but hopefully when this case concludes, I can move on and so can Johnny.”
“I have always maintained a love for Johnny,” the actress wrote, “and it brings me great pain to have to live out the details of our past life together in front of the world.
“At this time, I recognize the ongoing support I’ve been fortunate to receive throughout these years, and in these coming weeks I will be leaning on it more than ever,” she continued.
The trial is sure to be explosive, with a star-studded witness lists including Heard’s ex-lover Elon Musk, actor James Franco, “WandaVision” star Paul Bettany and Ellen Barkin.
Both exes are also expected to testify, and their lawyers will likely focus on whether Heard’s account of Depp’s alleged abuse were truthful.
Heard said in her post that she is “going offline” while the trial is underway.
In 2020, the former couple duked it out in UK court over a 2018 story in The Sun, which called the “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” star a “wife beater.”
A London judge sided with the newspaper in finding that it hadn’t libeled Depp — while also ruling that he regularly beat his ex-wife.
The bombshell trial included revelations of feces in the couple’s bed and harrowing testimony from Heard about Depp scrawling “I love you” on a mirror in blood.
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