Amber Heard Pays $1-Million Settlement to Johnny Depp — He Will Donate It to Charity

Amber Heard has paid her $1-million settlement to Johnny Depp, one year after their Virginia defamation case came to an end.

People magazine reports a source close to Depp says he will be dividing up the payments to five charities of his choosing, “with $200,000 going to each.” The nonprofit organizations receiving the payments are: the the Make a Film Foundation, the Painted Turtle, Red Feather, Tetiaroa Society, and the Amazonia Fund Alliance.

Amber had initially filed to appeal the June 1, 2022, verdict, in which a seven-person jury found that she defamed Johnny in her Washington Post op-ed about domestic violence and awarded more than $10 million in damages.

In December 2022, Heard announced on Instagram that she was dropping the appeal and had reached a settlement with Depp.

"It's important for me to say that I never chose this," Heard wrote in her statement at the time. "I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed. The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways women are re-victimized when they come forward."

"Now I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to," she continued. "I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward.”

She continued, "I cannot afford to risk an impossible bill — one that is not just financial, but also psychological, physical and emotional. Women shouldn't have to face abuse or bankruptcy for speaking her truth, but unfortunately, it is not uncommon."

"... I will not be threatened, disheartened, or dissuaded by what happened from speaking the truth. No one can and no one will take that from me. My voice forever remains the most valuable asset I have.”

At the time, Depp’s attorneys Benjamin Chew and Camille Vazquez issued a statement about the settlement reached.

"The jury's unanimous decision and the resulting judgment in Mr. Depp's favor against Ms. Heard remain fully in place. The payment of $1 million — which Mr. Depp is pledging and will (actually) donate to charities — reinforces Ms. Heard's acknowledgment of the conclusion of the legal system's rigorous pursuit for justice."

The “Pirates of the Caribbean” star, who is currently on tour in Europe with his band Hollywood Vampires, recently received a seven-minute standing ovation at the premiere of his new film “Jeanne du Barry” at the Cannes Film Festival last month.