Johnny Depp to donate $1M Amber Heard defamation settlement to charities

Johnny Depp has received the US$1 million settlement from Amber Heard, owed to him after the ex-spouses reached an agreement.

Johnny Depp will donate the US$1 million defamation settlement he has received from his ex-wife Amber Heard to multiple charities, according to numerous reports.

On Tuesday it was revealed that Depp, 60, would split the funds for donations to five charities: the Make-A-Film Foundation, The Painted Turtle, Red Feather, Marlon Brando’s Tetiaroa Society charity and the Amazonia Fund Alliance.

Depp is reportedly set to donate $200,000 to each charity.

The settlement was allegedly paid by Heard’s insurance company.

Heard, 37, has not commented publicly on this newest development — one that signals the end of the ex-spouses’ years-long series of legal battles in the U.S. and U.K.

In June 2022, a seven-person jury in Virginia found both Heard and Depp guilty of defamation. Depp originally sued Heard over a 2018 op-ed she penned for the Washington Post, in which she referred to herself as a “public figure representing domestic abuse.” The jury ruled in favour of Depp and awarded the actor $10 million in damages. Heard was awarded $2 million in a favourable ruling on one of her three countersuit claims.

In December, Depp and Heard reached a settlement that saw the Aquaman actor agree to pay Depp $1 million. He pledged to donate the settlement to charity.

At the time, Heard said the decision to settle with Depp was “very difficult” and “not an act of concession.”