Amber Heard has said she feels she has “lost [her] ability to speak” following her highly publicised legal disputes with former husband Johnny Depp. The actor appears in Silenced, a documentary examining how defamation lawsuits can be used to deter women from speaking publicly about alleged abuse, which has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival.
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In an interview for the film with director Selina Miles, Heard stated that she no longer wishes to tell her own story. She said her participation in the documentary was not about revisiting her marriage, but about highlighting a broader issue affecting many women who speak out. Heard suggested that the experience had left her unwilling to continue using her voice publicly.
The documentary also features international human rights lawyer Jennifer Robinson, who supported Heard during Depp’s 2018 libel case against The Sun newspaper. Robinson recalled the hostility Heard faced outside court, while Heard described how decisions about speaking to the media carried unforeseen consequences. She said her experience reflected a wider pattern faced by women challenging power imbalances.
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Despite this, Heard said she draws hope from seeing other women speak out. She added that witnessing such courage gives her strength, particularly when thinking about her daughter’s future. Johnny Depp lost his libel case against The Sun, but later won a defamation lawsuit against Heard in the United States over an article she wrote about surviving domestic abuse, resulting in damages being awarded in his favour.
