- Amber Heard never donated the full $7 million from her divorce settlement from Johnny Depp.
- She testified Monday that she stopped donating because Depp sued her, demanding $50 million in damages.
- Heard says it’s still her intention to pay all the money in addition to the $500,000 Elon Musk paid for her.
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When Johnny Depp and Amber Heard reached a settlement on their divorce in 2016, Heard announced that she would be donating her entire $7 million payout to charity. She said the money would be split between two organizations: the American Civil Liberties Union and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
By October 2018, Heard had received the full settlement amount, she testified Monday. But an ACLU executive testified early in the trial that the organization never received the full $3.5 million it was promised and that about half of the donations it received on Heard’s behalf came from Elon Musk, the billionaire CEO of Tesla, who dated Heard after her split from Depp.
Heard said on the stand Monday that she still plans to donate all of the promised money, but that Depp’s lawsuit — seeking up to $50 million in damages — is getting in the way.
“I still have full intention to deliver on all my commitments,” Heard said. “I’d love for him to stop suing me so I can.”
In April, the ACLU’s general counsel and chief operating officer, Terence Dougherty, testified in the ongoing trial that a total of $1.3 million had been donated on Heard’s behalf, including $350,000 directly from her and $100,000 from Depp and $500,000 from Musk on her behalf. Dougherty showed the jury a commitment form detailing how Heard was able to pay the full $3.5 million over 10 years, but Heard never signed it.
Depp’s lawsuit, filed in 2019, alleges that Heard ruined his reputation and career by alleging in a 2018 Washington Post op-ed that she was a victim of domestic violence. Heard has denied Depp’s defamation allegations and has filed a $100 million counterclaim. He says he physically assaulted her on numerous occasions before and during their marriage.
On Monday’s witness stand at the Fairfax County, Virginia, courthouse, Heard said she “promised the whole thing to charity because I was never interested in Johnny’s money.” She said she chose the ACLU as her organization for funds because she believes in its mission and Children’s Hospital because she has volunteered there for more than a decade and knows she can use the funds.
When asked by her attorney in direct review if the donations had a deadline, Heard said, “There isn’t. You understand.”
She also said she plans to give the full $7 million on top of what Musk paid. One of Depp’s executives testified early in the trial that the $100,000 Depp paid on Heard’s behalf came from the divorce fund.
Heard also appeared to say she paid $6 million for a legal defense before one of Depp’s attorneys objected and prevented her from finishing her answer.