Amber Heard says she’s all too familiar with the conditions surrounding Blake Lively’s sexual harassment complaint against Justin Baldoni. 

The actress, 38, called the case in which Lively, 37, has accused her It Ends With Us director and costar Baldoni, 40, of harassment while making the movie followed by a subsequent smear campaign, a “horrifying” reminder of her experience in her defamation trial with ex-husband Johnny Depp in a statement to NBC News. 

“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 the outlet. “I saw this firsthand and up close. It’s as horrifying as it is destructive.”

Amber Heard, Blake Lively, Justin Baldoni. Phillip Faraone/Getty; David Fisher/Shutterstock ; Stephen Lovekin/Shutterstock 

Heard’s comments come in response to Baldoni hiring the same PR crisis manager as Depp, 61, did during the pair’s 2022 defamation lawsuit which he won, as stated in the complaint filed by Lively. 

Lively is suing Baldoni, who directed and starred alongside her in the film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s novel, for sexual harassment and a retaliatory campaign to “destroy” her reputation. She also alleges that other production team members were involved in the alleged smear campaign and is seeking unspecified damages.

Johnny Depp and Heard pictured during their defamation trial in 2022. STEVE HELBER/POOL/AFP via Getty Images; EVELYN HOCKSTEIN/POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Bryan Freedman, Baldoni’s lawyer, denied the allegations to PEOPLE in a statement on Dec. 21, saying that Lively’s complaint was to “fix her negative reputation,” while accusing her of causing issues on set. Baldoni has since been dropped by his talent agency WME, according to multiple reports.

A source previously shared with PEOPLE that Baldoni hired Depp’s former PR manager Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group amid reports of tension between himself and the It Ends With Us cast, including Lively, in August. 

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Lively is suing Baldoni for alleged sexual harassment. Jeff Spicer/Getty; Dia Dipasupil/Getty

Heard accused Depp of sexual assault during his $50 million defamation lawsuit against her in 2022. The Pirates of the Caribbean actor sued Heard over a 2018 op-ed she wrote for the Washington Post about surviving domestic violence. 

A spokesperson for Depp denied the allegations to PEOPLE, stating, “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.”

Depp eventually won the defamation lawsuit in April 2022 and was awarded $15 million in damages, while Heard was ordered to pay $10.35 million. After months of appealing from both, the two reached a settlement by the end of 2022: They’d drop it all and Heard paid $1 million to Depp, who divvied that up to five different charities. 

Heard pictured in June 2023. Ernesto Ruscio/Getty Images

Heard filed for divorce from Depp in May 2016 after being married for one year. She also filed for a restraining order against the actor as she accused him of abuse, which he vehemently denied, and he agreed to a $7 million divorce settlement. 

Heard has since moved on and is expecting her second child, PEOPLE confirmed on Dec. 5. The Aquaman actress currently lives in Spain, with her 3-year-old daughter Oonagh Paige, whom she welcomed on April 8, 2021.