US commentator Cooper Lawrence rips into Amber Heard on Sunrise

A US radio personality has lashed out at Amber Heard on Sunrise, making several bold claims about the actress’ next move against Johnny Depp.

A US commentator lashed out at Amber Heard on Sunrise this morning in a scathing interview about today’s court result.

Following Amber Heard’s trial loss, which the actress labelled “disappointing beyond words” for its lasting impact on future domestic violence victims in a despondent social media statement this morning, Cooper Lawrence appeared on Sunrise to offer her thoughts on the verdict.

Calling Heard’s response to the verdict “insulting” to victims, Lawrence accused Heard of being “obsessed with Depp”, predicting she may purposely avoid paying the actor’s damages “because she wants to see him again in court”.

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Heard was devastated by her court loss today. Picture: AFP.

Following the verdict, Cooper Lawrence ripped into the actress on Sunrise. Picture: Channel 7.

Depp sued Heard over a 2018 Washington Post op-ed in which Heard described herself as a victim of domestic abuse.

The piece was written more than two and half years after Heard left her husband in 2016. Days after filing for divorce, Heard accused Depp of domestic violence and requested a temporary restraining order.

After six weeks of explosive testimonies, today, a jury declared Heard “acted with actual malice” when she penned her now-infamous article, titled “I spoke up against sexual violence – and faced our culture’s wrath. That has to change.”

The decision will see Heard, 36, ordered to pay $US15 million ($A21 million) in damages to Depp, 58. Of that, $US10 million ($A14 million) is in compensatory damages and $US5 million ($A7 million) in punitive damages.

However, Virginia law only allows punitive damages up to a maximum of $US350,000 ($A490,000), meaning Depp was awarded a total of $US10.35 million ($A14.4 million).

Heard was also awarded $US2 million ($A2.8 million) after the jury found that Depp had defamed her after Depp’s lawyer called her abuse allegations a hoax.

Subtracting Heard’s award from Depp’s total, the Pirates of the Caribbean star leaves the case with $8.35 million.

It’s a stunning loss for Heard, who described the verdict as a “setback” for women in the post-MeToo era in a statement released shortly after the jury announced its verdict.

“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,” Heard said.

Depp was award $15m in damages. Picture: AFP.

Heard said she was ‘disappointed beyond words’ by the outcome. Picture: AFP.

Speaking to Channel 7’s Natalie Barr this morning, radio personality and author Lawrence was asked whether Depp would receive any of his damages money from Heard.

“Well that’s a good question … Is that another lawsuit that we’re going to see come up in the future?,” Lawrence pondered, before making a startling remark on Heard’s character.

“She’s the type of person that would not pay him because she wants to see him again in court. You get a lot of people who become obsessed with other people so they take them to court, they write op-ed pieces and they do these outrageous things just to get their attention again,” said Lawrence.

“So I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t pay him, just so they could see each other one more time.”

"I hope she gets the help she needs"

Broadcaster @CooperLawrence shares her thoughts after a jury found Amber Heard had defamed ex-husband Johnny Depp by claiming to be the victim of domestic violence. pic.twitter.com/ZfcDszhz7Y

— Sunrise (@sunriseon7) June 1, 2022

Ignoring the pointed response, Barr followed up with a question about Heard’s emotional social media message, prompting another vicious swipe from Lawrence.

“They’ve both made statements, Amber Heard’s statement was pretty powerful and said other women will be afraid to come forward basically if they have been abused,” said Barr.

“That’s really insulting because that says that everything that she came forward with was the truth,” Lawrence responded.

“There’s a reason why she didn’t win the defamation trial, and the fact that she is putting herself in the category of women that truly are abused and truly do experience domestic violence is incredibly sad and I hope she gets the help that she needs.”

Natalie Barr spoke with the radio presenter on Sunrise this morning.

During the interview, Lawrence made her opinion of Amber Heard known.

Barr ended the interview with questions about the future of Depp’s film career, with Lawrence remarking that the Pirates of the Caribbean star is seemingly “bigger than cancel culture”.

“If a smart producer decides they wanna get butts in the seats, yeah, you absolutely wanna put Johnny Depp in something,” she said of whether we will soon see Depp on our screens.

“Johnny Depp is not so easily cancelled, there are some people out there who are bigger than cancel culture,” she concluded.

In the last defamation case related to their marriage brought to trial by Depp, a British judge ruled that the actor being characterised as a “wife beater” in an article by The Sun was “substantially true”.

The 2020 trial – which lasted three weeks and spawned headlines worldwide – found that Depp had assaulted Heard “at least 12 times” in their relationship.