In 2016, when Johnny Depp and Amber Heard reached a divorce settlement, Heard announced that she’d donate her entire $7 million payout to charity, adding that two organizations would be splitting that money: the American Civil Liberties Union and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
Heard had received the full settlement amount by October 2018, she testified in Depp’s defamation trial against her. At around the same time, in a media interview, she also said that she had already donated the funds, but an ACLU executive testified earlier in the trial that the organization never received the full $3.5 million it was promised.
It also said that half the donations it received in Heard’s name came from Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla who dated Heard after her breakup with Depp. Heard said that Depp’s lawsuit, which demands up to $50 million in damages, got in the way in her plans to donate all of the money she promised, according to report.
“I still fully intend on honoring all of my pledges. I would love him to stop suing me so I can,” Heard said. The general counsel and chief operating officer of the ACLU, Terence Dougherty testified in the ongoing trial that $1.3 million had been donated in Heard’s name overall, with $350,000 directly from her and $100,000 from Depp and $500,000 from Musk in her name.
A pledge form, unsigned by Heard, was shown to the jury by Dougherty, laying out how Heard could pay the full $3.5 million over 10 years. In 2019, Depp filed a lawsuit accusing Heard of ruining his reputation and career by saying in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed article that she had been the victim of domestic violence. Heard filed a $100 million counterclaim, after denying Depp’s defamation allegations, saying he physically assaulted her before and during their marriage.
