Amber Heard was told revealing she is bisexual would end her career, the actress has said.
The ex-wife of Johnny Depp said film-makers doubted whether she could play a straight woman in a romantic lead role after she spoke publicly about her sexuality seven years ago.
“It did impact my career, it was difficult,” she said at The Economist’s Pride & Prejudice event in New York.
“It was not easy. I was the only one working in this way, so it was definitely difficult because no one had done it.
“I did that even though everyone told me it would end my career, without a doubt.”
Amber, 30, said she disagreed with reports that she came out as bisexual in 2010, because she had never hidden her sexuality.
“When I hear someone comment about me coming out, I think it’s funny because I was never in,” she said.
The US star said she was asked directly about her sexuality by a reporter at the time and she answered “honestly” and “off the cuff”.
“Then I realised the gravity of what I had done,” she added.
“I started to understand why so many people – studio execs, directors, advisers, agents, producers – why everyone was so adamant about this not being the label that comes before my name.
“I quickly became, not actress Amber Heard, but out lesbian Amber Heard.”
Amber was in a relationship with photographer Tasya van Ree before she began dating Johnny after meeting him on the set of 2011 film The Rum Diary.
The couple married in February 2015 but had a high-profile divorce last year amid claims of domestic abuse.
Johnny vehemently denied he had been “verbally and physically abusive” for the entirety of their four-year-relationship.
The former couple later issued a a joint statement saying there was “never any intent of physical or emotional harm”.
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