'Succession's' Brian Cox Admits He Feels 'Sorry' for Amber Heard

Actor Brian Cox admits he feels sympathy for Amber Heard after the way she was treated during the court case she lost in June against ex-husband Johnny Depp.

Cox criticized several actors in his 2021 autobiography, Putting the Rabbit in the Hat, including Depp, whom he said was "overrated." Cox has since withdrawn his criticism and expressed regret over what he said about Depp, 59.

During an interview to promote the paperback version of his memoirs, Scottish actor Cox, 76, was asked about his thoughts on the Depp and Heard trial.

"The public loves him," Cox said of Depp, during an interview with The Times on Monday. When it was suggested that the jury from the defamation trial in Fairfax County, Virginia, loved him too, Cox added, "Well, they did.

"I feel sorry for the woman. I think she got the rough end of it," he said, referring to Heard, 36.

Best known for playing Logan Roy in Succession, Cox was involved in a royal altercation at the 2022 Emmy Awards on Monday as he reined in show creator Jesse Armstrong, 51, for taking a swipe at King Charles III.

Armstrong thanked Emmy voters as he accepted an award but said that no one had voted for Charles to become the new king. "Keep it royalist. Keep it royalist," Cox told fellow Brit Armstrong.

Depp sued Heard for defamation after she wrote a 2018 op-ed, saying she was the survivor of domestic abuse. He ultimately won the case against his ex-wife, though she has since recruited a new legal team and is appealing the result.

Millions of people gave their opinion on the lawsuit via social media, mostly seemingly siding with Depp during the trial, which lasted from April until early June. Since then, public opinion seems to have moved back toward Heard as 6,000 unsealed documents were released.

Details of Depp's private text conversations with singer Marilyn Manson were revealed, as well as Heard's refusal to claim more money in divorce proceedings. There was more information about Depp's severed finger and many more facts that were withheld during the first trial.

Elaine Bredehoft represented Heard in the lawsuit, but she has since left the team, and now attorneys David L. Axelrod and Jay Ward Brown of Ballard Spahr will represent Heard in court.

In August, Heard's representatives said in a statement, "a different court warrants different representation, particularly as so much new evidence is now coming to light."