Amber Heard is speaking out amid Blake Lively’s sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni.
After the “Gossip Girl” alum accused her “It Ends With Us” co-star of trying to “destroy” her reputation with an alleged smear campaign, Heard released a statement to NBC News.
The actress’ ex-husband, Johnny Depp, notably, worked with the same crisis PR manager during his and Heard’s defamation trial that Baldoni hired earlier this year.
“Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on,’” the “Aquaman” star, 38, wrote on Monday. “I saw this firsthand and up close,” Heard continued. “It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.”
In June 2022, she was found to have defamed Depp, with the 61-year-old actor awarded $15 million in damages.
Heard was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages in her counterclaim, which Depp has since appealed.
“[This verdict] sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated,” Heard wrote in a statement at the time.
She was eviscerated online throughout the trial and told NBC News in June 2022 that the social media vitriol was not “fair.”
Heard, who is expecting baby No. 2, now lives in Spain with her 3-year-old daughter, Oonagh.
Lively, for her part, has four children with husband Ryan Reynolds — and the “Deadpool” star attended the “all hands” meeting that was allegedly held about Baldoni’s behavior on set.
Lively alleged in the legal complaint that Baldoni was confronted about showing her “nude videos or images of women” and inquiring about her weight while filming the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s 2016 novel.
She further alleged that Baldoni worked with crisis PR during the movie’s promotion in order to “help change the narrative” about their alleged on-set feud through “social manipulation.”
Baldoni denied the allegations in a statement over the weekend, calling the actress’ filing “shameful” and “categorically false.” The “Jane the Virgin” alum was subsequently dropped by his talent agency.
Attorney Bryan Freedman also released the following statement to Page Six:
“TAG PR operated as any other crisis management firm would when hired by a client experiencing threats by two extremely powerful people with unlimited resources. The standard scenario planning TAG PR drafted proved unnecessary as audiences found Lively’s own actions, interviews and marketing during the promotional tour distasteful, and responded organically to that which the media themselves picked up on.
It’s ironic that the New York Times, through their effort to “uncover” an insidious PR effort, played directly into the hands of Lively’s own dubious PR tactics by publishing leaked personal text exchanges that lack critical context – the very same tactics she’s accusing the firm of implementing.”
