Johnny Depp Finally Gets Paid by Amber Heard, Reveals How He'll Spend the $1M Settlement
Actor Johnny Depp has finally received payment from his former wife, Amber Heard, following last year’s highly public defamation trial, TMZ reported Tuesday.
According to the report, which cited “sources with direct knowledge,” Depp has received $1 million — all of which he intends to give to various charities.
TMZ reported the 59-year-old “Pirates of the Caribbean” star will distribute the cash equally among five different causes he cares about.
The Make A Film Foundation, The Painted Turtle, Red Feather, the Tetiaroa Society and the Amazonia Fund Alliance will be cut checks for $200,000 apiece, the report said.
The Make A Film Foundation says it “grants film wishes to children with serious or life-threatening medical conditions, helping them to create short film legacies by teaming them with noted actors, directors, and writers.”
The Painted Turtle hosts a camp for children with serious medical issues.
Red Feather, meanwhile, offers housing assistance for Native Americans. Depp has speculated he is part Cherokee or Creek.
The Tetiaroa Society works to maintain delicate coastal ecosystems, while the Amazonia Fund Alliance says it seeks to preserve the Amazon Rainforest.
Depp has worked with charities throughout his career.
He has on occasion dressed up as his “Pirates” character, Captain Jack Sparrow, for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
The actor sued Heard over an opinion piece she wrote for The Washington Post in 2018 in which she said she was the victim of physical abuse by a man her former husband believed was strongly implied to have been him.
A jury in Virginia sided with Depp and ruled in June 2022 that Heard had no basis to make the claims.
The “Aquaman” actress was ordered to pay him more than $10 million, but the pair later reached a settlement.
Heard had argued the case was about her freedom of speech, but jurors found she defamed her famous husband with “actual malice.”
“I’m sad I lost this case,” Heard said after the lengthy trial, NBC News reported. “But I am sadder still that I seem to have lost a right I thought I had as an American — to speak freely and openly.”
Depp said at the time he did not feel like a winner due to the nature of the accusations made against him.
“What did [the trial] do to me? What effect did it have on me? I’ll put it to you this way: No matter the outcome of this trial, the second the allegations were made against me … once that happened, I lost then,” he said.
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