Amber Heard thinks being a role model is a "burden".
The 31-year-old actor became an inspiration for many women when she spoke out about the alleged "verbal and physical abuse" she’d suffered at the hands of her now ex-husband Johnny Depp, and whilst she feels "fortunate" that she was able to help others, she finds having her private life in the spotlight "difficult".
Asked how she feels about being a role model, the ‘Justice League’ actress said: "I feel incredibly fortunate that I’m in a position where I could be of any help. At times it’s a burden to consider that your life is no longer just yours and it’s not private.
"It can be hard to know that you can’t function in full – that anonymity is no longer a valid goal and that your actions and words, whether they’re done on a red carpet or in the most intimate corners of your personal life, to know that those aren’t fully yours anymore.
"That’s a difficult realisation to come to when it does hit you. It’s severe but you grow and move on from that, and on balance, I take into consideration all of the incredible fortune I have being in this position. It’s hard to stay mad at it for long."
But the ‘London Fields’ star – who finalised her divorce from Johnny, 54, earlier this year – doesn’t "mind" being called inspirational, and says her main goal in life is to make sure she never gets tempted by popularity.
When asked by GQ Australia magazine how she feels about being dubbed an inspiration, she said: "Have you ever met a woman? I always tend to do things truthfully and do the right thing. All I strive for in life is never get the temptation to try to be popular, liked, accepted. It’s never anywhere equal to the desire I have to live my life truthfully and with dignity and with pride. I wouldn’t be able to do that if I wasn’t living honestly, so it was never tempting to me to live another way."
Amber Heard’s role model burden
