The ACLU Says That Amber Heard Hasn’t Paid Them Her Full Divorce Settlement Donation Due To “Financial Difficulties”

April 29, 2022 / Posted by:

Every new update in the defamation trial between Johnny Depp and Amber Heard brings a new level of courtroom embarrassment. One day, it’s Johnny looking like the fool, whether that be thanks to a photo of a passed-out Johnny with melted ice cream on his crotch, or audio of him seemingly admitting that he cut his own fingertip off. Another day, it’s a security guard testifying that Amber shit in Johnny’s bed as a prank.  Now it’s Amber’s turn again. According to testimony from the ACLU, they’re still waiting on an allegedly cash-strapped Amber to make good on her promise to donate her entire divorce settlement to charity.

Back in 2016, Johnny and Amber finally settled their beyond-messy divorce (how innocent we all were to think that was the end of all this). Amber claimed that whatever money she received in a divorce settlement would go straight to charity. Amber received nearly $7 million from Johnny, and she announced that she’d be splitting it 50/50 between a donation to the American Civil Liberties Union, or the ACLU, and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Johnny Depp reportedly took his time forking over the settlement money to Amber. Then Johnny allegedly wanted to make the donations directly to the charities himself, and Amber’s lawyers reportedly shook their fingers like, “Uh uh uh, not so fast,” because they figured he just wanted the tax deduction. In 2018, both the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital reported receiving donations from Amber, but would not release specific numbers. In January 2021, Johnny’s side claimed that Amber never actually followed through with her promise to donate all the money, and well, now the ACLU is corroborating Johnny’s story. via People magazine:

In a pre-recorded deposition played in court Thursday, [ACLU chief operating officer] Terrence Dougherty testified that Heard promised to donate half of her $7 million settlement from her divorce from Johnny Depp to the ACLU, with the rest of the sum going to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

By the time of the deposition’s recording in December 2021, the ACLU had only received $1.3 million in her name, he said.

The ACLU was supposed to get $3.5 million, not just $1.3 million. So when they hadn’t received the missing money years after Amber promised it, they allegedly reached out to Amber in 2019 to ask, you know, when will we get that cash you said you were going to give us. That’s when they were allegedly told that Amber was having “financial difficulties.” If only the bank that held my student loan payments in their iron grip would have accepted such a simple excuse! Because I would such grace after the third angry phone informing me I couldn’t pass off $9.26 as a reasonable monthly payment.

The ACLU also testified that they helped Amber write The Washington Post op-piece which is the reason for this latest trial. In the 2018 piece, Amber said that speaking out against domestic violence cost her work and jobs, and that she had to change her phone number weekly and hide out in her house due to death threats. Terrence Dougherty, who is also the ACLU’s general counsel, testified that the ACLU helped draft Amber’s op-ed and that its release was timed to capitalize on the release of Aquaman. The following year is when the ACLU allegedly inquired about the missing money.

The ACLU testified that they’re not even confident that $1.3 million they received from all from Amber herself. According to Deadline, the ACLU claims that Amber made four donations to them om varying increments. One $100,000 donation came from Johnny Depp but was credited to Amber Heard. Amber made a direct payment in 2016 to the tune of $350,000, and another of the same amount came through in 2018. In 2017, the ACLU received a donation of $500,000 from a Vanguard fund that they believe to have been from Amber’s best billionaire friend Elon Musk. Amber and Elon dated not long after she split from Johnny Depp. According to an email sent from Elon Musk to the ACLU, Elon claimed that Amber’s payments would be fulfilled in increments over the span of 10 years. The ACLU also notes that Amber never signed an official pledge form. If what the ACLU believes is true, then so far Amber has technically donated even less of the $3.5 million she promised.

Amber will take the stand next week, but last year, her lawyer addressed the multi-million dollar elephant in the room, saying:

“[Heard] has always said she fully intends to continue to give the full $7 million, but she can’t do it yet. She will do it when she can. But she has given a significant amount.”

The Children’s Hospital Los Angeles hasn’t said whether they’re also owed a big fat chunk of change or not either, and it’s not known if they too provided a deposition as the ACLU did. I have no idea where Amber is going to come up with a couple of million dollars in donations. I’d say that if Elon really was generous enough to slip the ACLU a $500,000 donation on Amber’s behalf, that Amber should go ahead and ask Elon Musk for an eensy-weensy little interest-free loan that’s juuuuuust slightly more money than $500,000. But I have a feeling he’ll just text back: “Um, this is awkward – but I’ve recently been floating this narrative that I’m a homeless couch-surfing poor, so sorry – no can do at this time.

Pic: INSTARimages

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