Amber Heard "stands by every word" of her court testimony

In a world filled with a startling amount of vitriol for women who speak against (inexplicably beloved) actors, Amber Heard is now spending her days defending the claims she made in court, while Johnny Depp is preparing to release a new album. In the first part of her interview with Savannah Guthrie for TODAY, Heard stands firm when it comes to the validity her court statements.

“To my dying day, I’ll stand by every word of my testimony,” Heard says. In the interview, Heard also calls the trial that gained a frenzied social media following, “The most humiliating and horrible thing I’ve ever been through. I’ve never felt more removed from my own humanity. I felt less than human.”

She also recalls the sensationalized nature of the trial, that also featured swarms of Depp fans surrounding the court building every single day.

“I think even the most well-intentioned juror… it would have been impossible to avoid this. Every single day I passed three, four, sometimes six city blocks lined with people holding signs saying ‘Burn the Witch,’ ‘Death to Amber,’” Heard tells Guthrie. “After three and a half weeks, I took the stand and saw a courtroom packed full of Captain Jack Sparrow fans who were vocal, energized.”

Then, she explains the nature of abusive relationships to both Guthrie and the world once more, defending any actions she says took in order to protect herself. “I never had to instigate it, I responded to it,” Heard says. “When you’re living in violence and it becomes normal, as I testified to, you have to adapt.”

“As I testified on the stand about this, when your life is at risk, not only will you take the blame for things that you shouldn’t take the blame for, but when you’re in an abusive dynamic psychologically, emotionally and physically, you don’t have the resources that, say, you or I do with the luxury of saying, ‘Hey, this is black and white.’ Because it’s anything but when you’re living in it,” she continues.

She concludes the interview by stating, “I made a lot of mistakes, but I’ve always told the truth.”

The second part of Heard’s interview will be released tomorrow, with the full interview airing on a special Dateline episode on Friday.