Amber Heard supports Blake Lively, slams 'destructive' lies on social media

Amber Heard can relate to Blake Lively.

The "Aquaman" star, 38, issued a statement to NBC News on Monday in support of Lively after the actress accused her "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni of sexual harassment. Lively also alleged Baldoni coordinated an online smear campaign against her to silence her allegations and ruin her reputation.

In her statement, Heard, who previously accused her ex-husband Johnny Depp of domestic abuse, addressed the way falsehoods can spread quickly on the internet, implying both she and Lively were victims of this phenomenon.

"Social media is the absolute personification of the classic saying, 'A lie travels halfway around the world before truth can get its boots on,'" Heard told NBC. "I saw this first hand and up close. It's as horrifying as it is destructive."

Lively's filing noted that after she complained about alleged misconduct on the set of "It Ends With Us," Baldoni retained crisis communications specialist Melissa Nathan and her company, The Agency Group. Nathan previously represented Depp during his defamation case against Heard.

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USA TODAY has reached out to Bryan Freedman, an attorney for Baldoni, for comment.

In a statement to NBC News, Freedman said, "TAG PR must be the most powerful group of publicists the world has ever seen for it to be able to completely change the perception of both Amber Heard and Blake Lively." He added that the only similarity between the two cases is that "every move they have made has been out there for everyone to see, widely filmed and documented for the public to make up their own minds — which they did, organically."

Freedman previously told The New York Times that Lively's claims are "completely false, outrageous and intentionally salacious."

Depp sued Heard after she published an op-ed in The Washington Post claiming she was a victim of domestic abuse, but did not name him as the culprit. The "Pirates of the Caribbean" star won the case and was awarded more than $10 million, while Heard received $2 million after a jury found she was defamed by Depp's former lawyer.

The Depp-Heard trial attracted significant attention on social media in 2022, and clips that mocked the actress' emotional testimony about her abuse allegations racked up millions of views.

In a 2022 interview, Heard told NBC that the "vast majority" of the trial played out on social media, and she argued the case was an "example of that gone haywire."

"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," she said.

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Depp has consistently denied Heard's domestic abuse allegations. Since the trial, Heard moved to Spain and recently confirmed she is expecting her second child.

Numerous celebrities have come forward to defend Lively in light of her complaint against Baldoni, including America Ferrera, Alexis Bledel, and Amber Tamblyn, her co-stars in "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants."

"As Blake's friends and sisters for over 20 years, we stand with her in solidarity as she fights back against the reported campaign waged to destroy her reputation," they said. "We are inspired by our sister's courage to stand up for herself and others."

Colleen Hoover, the author of "It Ends With Us," also expressed support for Lively on Instagram.

"@blakelively, you have been nothing but honest, kind, supportive and patient since the day we met," Hoover wrote. "Thank you for being exactly the human that you are. Never change. Never wilt."

Contributing: Edward Segarra

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amber Heard supports Blake Lively after Justin Baldoni claims