Six months after Amber Heard accused now-ex husband Johnny Depp of being physically abusive, the actress took the stage at the Glamour Women of the Year Awards to read an essay written by the Stanford sexual assault victim out loud.
According to Entertainment Tonight, the “Aquaman” star joined Gabourey Sidibe, Lena Dunham and Freida Pinto on Monday night to honor the unnamed woman, who was announced as the magazine’s woman of the year earlier this month.
The anonymous woman, whose powerful victim statement went viral after being published by BuzzFeed in June, also wrote an essay for the magazine. The piece marks her first public comments since her attacker, Brock Turner, was sentenced to a mere six months in jail after he was convicted on three felony counts of sexually assaulting an intoxicated and unconscious woman in 2015 at a fraternity party on the Stanford campus. Turner only served three months of the sentence.
Identified by Glamour as “Emily Doe,” the victim detailed what it was like after Judge Aaron Persky handed down the sentence widely criticized for being far too lenient, and after her letter made international news.
“You are powerful, and nobody can take that away from you,” Heard read from Doe’s essay. “I hope you grow up knowing that world will no longer stand for this. Victims are not victims — not some fragile, sorrowful aftermath.”
Together, Heard, Pinto and Sidibe read, “Victims are survivors, and survivors are going to be doing a hell of a lot more than surviving.” A standing ovation ensued.
Heard filed for divorce from Depp after little more than a year of marriage in May. Days later, she sought a restraining order against the “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, claiming he had been abusive to her throughout their relationship.
The estranged couple eventually settled their divorce case for $7 million, with Heard donating her entire settlement to two charities, the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.