Amber Heard Speaks Out on Blake Lively’s Sexual Harassment Complaint Against Justin Baldoni: 'I Saw This Firsthand'

After Baldoni hired the same public relations manager as Lively’s ex-husband Johnny Depp for their 2022 defamation trial, Heard responded to Lively’s complaint in a new statement.

Amber Heard claims that the circumstances surrounding Blake Lively’s sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni are all too familiar to her.

In a statement to NBC News, the 38-year-old actress described the case in which Lively, 37, accused her costar and director of It Ends With Us, Baldoni, 40, of harassment during the filming process and the ensuing smear campaign, as a “horrifying” reminder of her experience in her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp.

“The old adage, ‘A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on,’ is perfectly personified by social media,” Heard told the outlet. “I witnessed this directly and up close. It is both destructive and horrifying.

According to Lively’s complaint, Heard’s remarks are in response to Baldoni employing the same public relations crisis manager that Depp, 61, used in their 2022 defamation case, which he prevailed in.

Baldoni, who co-starred and directed the movie adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s book, is being sued by Lively for sexual harassment and a campaign of retaliation to “destroy” her reputation. She is requesting undisclosed damages and claims that other members of the production team participated in the purported smear campaign.

In a statement to PEOPLE on December 21, Baldoni’s attorney Bryan Freedman refuted the claims, claiming that Lively’s complaint was to “fix her negative reputation” and accusing her of creating problems on set. Numerous reports state that Baldoni’s talent agency, WME, has since fired him.

According to a source who previously told, in August, Baldoni hired Melissa Nathan, Depp’s former PR manager from The Agency Group, in response to rumors that he and the It Ends With Us cast, including Lively, were at odds.

In 2022, Heard filed a $50 million defamation suit against Depp, alleging sexual assault. Heard was sued by the Pirates of the Caribbean star for an opinion piece she wrote about surviving domestic abuse for the Washington Post in 2018.

“These fictitious claims were never made at the onset of Amber’s allegations in 2016, and only advantageously surfaced years later once she was sued for defamation,” a Depp spokesperson told PEOPLE in response to the accusations.

In April 2022, Depp prevailed in the defamation case and received a $15 million award, while Heard was mandated to pay $10.35 million. By the end of 2022, the two had come to an agreement after months of appeals from both parties: Heard would pay Depp $1 million, and they would drop everything.

After a year of marriage, Heard filed for divorce from Depp in May 2016. The actor acquiesced to a $7 million divorce settlement after she filed for a restraining order against him, accusing him of abuse, which he strongly denied.

Since then, Heard has moved on, and on December 5, PEOPLE confirmed that she is expecting her second child. On April 8, 2021, the Aquaman actress welcomed her 3-year-old daughter, Oonagh Paige, into the world and now resides in Spain.