• Amber Heard speaks out following defamation case against ex-husband Johnny Depp.
• 36-year-old said she had not received a “fair representation” on social media.
• Says she understands why people feel they know the Pirates of the Caribbean actor better than her.

Amber Heard has spoken out for the first time following her defamation battle with ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Following their trial, the 36-year-old actress was ordered to pay her former partner, 59, $10 million in compensatory damages and an additional $5 million in punitive damages.

Read more: Queen Elizabeth becomes modern with the second-longest reign

Amber said she had not received a “fair representation on social media” in a new pre-recorded interview with Today’s Savannah Guthrie, which will run on NBC on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“I don’t care what one thinks about me or what judgments you want to make about what happened in the privacy of my own home, in my marriage, behind closed doors,” she adds.

“I don’t presume the average person should know those things. And so I don’t take it personally.”

She concludes: “But even somebody who is sure I’m deserving of all this hate and vitriol, even if you think that I’m lying, you still couldn’t look me in the eye and tell me that you think on social media there’s been a fair representation.

“You cannot tell me that you think that this has been fair.”

Later in the interview she explained that she understood why the jury reached their verdict in favour of the Pirates of the Caribbean actor.

Amber tells the reporter: “I actually understand. He’s a beloved character and people feel they know him. He’s a fantastic actor.”

Following the verdict, Amber released a statement in which she said she felt “heartbroken”, adding she was “sadder still” that she had “lost a right” to “speak freely and openly”.

“The disappointment I feel today is beyond words. I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence, and sway of my ex-husband,” she said in the statement.

Read more: Britney Spears and Sam Asghari ‘haven’t planned a honeymoon’

“I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback. It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated.”

She continued: “It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.