Gloria Steinem is team Amber Heard.
The political activist, 88, was among the 130 signatures from multiple feminist groups that penned an open letter to the 36-year-old troubled actress on Wednesday, supporting her against the “public shaming” she’s received since losing her multimillion-dollar defamation suit against ex-husband Johnny Depp.
Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Amy Ziering (“The Invisible War”) also signed the letter.
After a lengthy and highly publicized trial earlier this year, Heard was found guilty of defaming Depp in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed where she accused the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star of domestic abuse.
Heard was ordered to pay her alleged abuser a $10.35 million verdict. Depp has appealed part of the verdict in his legal battle, arguing the single count of defamation that she won at their bombshell trial was an “erroneous” ruling — and that the jury had “overwhelmingly” favored him.
The letter read: “Five months ago, the verdict in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard deeply concerned many professionals in the fields of intimate partner and sexual violence … “
Gloria Steinem attends The Kering Foundation’s Caring for Women dinner at The Pool on Park Avenue on Sept. 15.Getty Images“The vilification of Ms. Heard and ongoing online harassment of her and those who have voiced support for her have been unprecedented in both vitriol and scale.”
The full open letter to Amber Heard.amberopenletter.com/“Much of this harassment was fueled by disinformation, misogyny, biphobia, and a monetized social media environment where a woman’s allegations of domestic violence and sexual assault were mocked for entertainment,” the long statement continued.
“The same disinformation and victim-blaming tropes are now being used against others who have alleged abuse.”
Amber Heard owes Johnny Depp millions for defaming him in a 2018 op-ed. POOL/AFP via Getty Images“In our opinion, the Depp v. Heard verdict and continued discourse around it indicate a fundamental misunderstanding of intimate partner and sexual violence and how survivors respond to it.”
“We have grave concerns about the rising misuse of defamation suits to threaten and silence survivors.”
“We condemn the public shaming of Amber Heard and join in support of her. We support the ability of all to report intimate partner and sexual violence free of harassment and intimidation,” the letter ended.
The Post has reached out to representatives for Heard and Depp for comment.
Depp’s daughter, Lily-Rose Depp, defended staying hush-hush on the whole Heard ordeal in the December 2022/January 2023 Elle cover story, published Wednesday.
Johnny Depp smokes during a break in his trial at a Fairfax County Courthouse on May 27 in Fairfax, Virginia.Getty Images“When it’s something that’s so private and so personal that all of a sudden becomes not so personal … I feel really entitled to my secret garden of thoughts,” the actress told the mag.
“I feel like for a lot of my career, people have really wanted to define me by the men in my life, whether that’s my family members or my boyfriends, whatever,” Lily-Rose added. “And I’m really ready to be defined for the things that I put out there.”
