Amber Heard really did donate her $7 million divorce settlement to charity, just FYI

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This is just a reminder for all of those people who were bizarrely suspicious of Amber Heard a few years back: she really did donate her divorce settlement to charity. Amber fought Johnny Depp for a settlement in their divorce proceedings, and Team Depp called her every name in the book. She was painted as lying golddigger who was merely after Depp’s substantial wealth. Well, as it turns out, Depp was and is in debt up to his eyeballs and that was one of the reasons why he fought Amber so hard on the subject of a divorce settlement. It also turns out that Amber didn’t even want the money – before the settlement even came through, she announced that she would be donating it to charity. Depp then tried to screw her over one last time by refusing to give her the settlement directly and instead sending a portion of the settlement to the charity himself. It was all pretty gross on Depp’s part. But the good news is that the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles received the money and they publicly thanked Amber.

Amber Heard is being acknowledged for her major financial contributions to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles this past year. The Justice League star, 31, was mentioned on the organization’s recently released 2017 donors list honor roll in a category for donations between $1 million and $4,999,999 million.

“My philanthropic efforts have always been centered around medical care, especially with women and children,” Heard recently told PEOPLE. “Medical care always struck me as a basic human right and necessity. I have been doing this type of work for the last 14 years with children’s hospitals and bringing, hopefully, laughs and alleviation and distraction to kids that are severely ill.”

Heard had pledged to make a donation to CHLA after she was awarded $7 million in her divorce settlement from her ex-husband Johnny Depp.

“As described in the restraining order and divorce settlement, money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves,” Heard said in a statement at the time. She added that the donation would be divided amongst a number of charities but with “a particular focus to stop violence against women” as well as the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, where she has worked as a volunteer for the past 10 years.

The hospital’s CEO Paul Viviano thanked Heard last August, saying, “Her generosity will support the lifesaving treatments and cures that Children’s Hospital Los Angeles provides for critically ill children each year.”

[From People]

Good for Amber. I understood why Amber donated the settlement to charity, but I still wish that we lived in a world where Amber could have kept the money and everyone would have been fine with it. Instead, it was almost like people would have said “see? She’s a golddigger, I told you!” if she had kept the money. She deserved that $7 million, in my opinion. She deserved it as a nest egg, she deserved to be financially secure for the next chapter of her life. But she didn’t want it and that’s her business.

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34 Responses to “Amber Heard really did donate her $7 million divorce settlement to charity, just FYI”

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  1. Case says:

    I absolutely loved Johnny for many, many years. I haven’t regretted dumping his abusive ass to support Amber for a single second. I always believed her, and I’m so sorry for everything she has been through because of that scumbag. She did deserve to keep that money and not be judged for it, but good on her for making the donation nonetheless.

    I follow her on Instagram and she has been visiting schools and hospitals in Jordan. I side eye her behavior sometimes, but I think her heart is in the right place.

    • SKF says:

      Yes! She had been in Jordan the past week and has been doing amazing work – spending time at the major refugee camp and bringing attention to children, women and the doctors providing medical care. I lived inJordan 2016-2017 so I was really happy to see that.

      • SKF says:

        I’d also like to point out that Amber seems to be pretty tight with pretty much everyone she works with and has many many friends. Depp and his team really did a hatchet job on her because she seems like a really cool chick.

    • Nice says:

      I read the comments about the people on Jordan mission and the doctors and volunteers are enchanted by her, about how nice and compassionate she really is, so kudos to her.

    • ValiantlyVarnished says:

      Same on all fronts. I was a fan for many years as well but when I heard (and saw with her bruises) what happened, I believed her. Depp has had well documented anger issues for many years. He also in recent years has clearly had alcohol and drug issues. I’m personally still steaming mad that in this “Me Too” era men who are physically abusive towards women are STILL getting a pass. When you have people like JK Rowling defending Depp it normalizes the behavior. Depp – and JK for that matter – are forever canceled in my eyes.

      • Case says:

        100% agreed, ValiantlyVarnished. It makes me so angry that many men, including Depp, have somehow managed to get a pass even in the Me Too era. Amber was SO brave for speaking out against a high-profile actor long before that era even began, and she hasn’t been supported or recognized in the Hollywood community in the way that she should be. Shameful all around, and infuriating that Depp continues to have a career. I know it is but a small contribution, but his work hasn’t gotten a cent out of me since Amber spoke out, and never will again.

    • lucy2 says:

      I was a big fan of his too, at one point he was one of my favorite actors, and seemed to live a quiet life with Vanessa and their kids. What a shame what he turned out to be, or turned into.

      I do think Amber’s first intentions may have been gold-digger/social climber/attracted to his then star power, but actual life with him turned out to be hell. I believe her, and I’m so glad she got away from him. She deserved every penny, but I admire her for giving it all away. I hope it is used wisely and helps a lot of people. That’s awesome that she volunteers her time too.

    • Kim says:

      I am also a former Johnny Depp fan and I never doubted her for a second, either. I’ve also never spent so much as a dime on any movie that he appears in since she spoke up about his behavior behind closed doors. There are plenty of other movies to go see. Screw him.

  2. BearcatLawyer says:

    Maybe she gave the money to charity because she never wanted to be associated with him in any way again. I know if someone I absolutely detested or had abused me in the past gave me anything of value, it would be out the door in record time and passed on to someone else.

  3. tracking says:

    Looks like she donated part of the settlement (somewhere between 1-5mill). Nothing wrong with that at all, but we don’t know how much she actually donated and it was not the full amount.

    • Ollie says:

      I’m not sure that she already got the whole 7mio?
      Wasn’t the ruling she gets the money in installments over the next years?

    • velourazure says:

      She probably had to pay taxes on the settlement so wouldn’t end up with 7 million in her pocket.

    • Beluga says:

      The donation was always going to be split between more than one charity from the very first announcement.

    • Savasana Lotus says:

      In that video of Depp chugging wine, he seemed like he really hated her. What a way to live for even five minutes. The gossip about four months into their marriage was that he was ‘already sorry he married’ and he moved in with Marilyn Manson for a while. I’ve always been puzzled as to why he couldn’t have just left this young woman alone. He pursued her and split up his home to do it. It was pure ego and lust of an aging actor.

      • Kim says:

        It was pretty pathetic, if stereotypical, behavior on his part. The product of being surrounded by nothing by yes men and users for decades.

    • NotSoSocialButterfly says:

      She made donations to several charities, the children’s hospital being one.

    • amyston says:

      If you’ll recall, she was also working with charity for survivors of domestic abuse. I don’t doubt that she split her settlement between the two (or more) causes.

  4. Cheshiresmile says:

    Wow @Tracking- petty much? There are more charities- she probably broke it up. The CHLA donation only came out because they named her- this wasn’t her PR press release. But sure, go ahead and try to drag her 😏

    • tracking says:

      Perhaps you should re-read my comment, which was clarifying. I specifically said nothing wrong with that.

    • LadyT says:

      The headline reads that Amber “really did donate her $7 million.” Tracking clarified without disparaging anyone IMO. Praise to Amber for the donation.

  5. gobo says:

    I am still convinced he was trying to donate the money on her behalf so he could make tax write offs as well get one last “fuck you” over on her. That was when I became certain his money problems were serious.

    • tracking says:

      I definitely think the tax issue was a big deal to him, and a desire to eff her over one last time.

    • lucy2 says:

      Absolutely that’s what he was trying to do, taxes plus controlling what was hers.
      It’s amazing how much money he made and how badly he blew it all.

  6. Hum says:

    She donated the money to children hospital and aclu and both organizations recognized her and are thankful for the help, it was the organizations that clarified that the donations are being done because depp trolls kept lying and shaming amber and spreading lies like she was keeping the money.
    Depp fans are annoying and hateful.

  7. Reef says:

    When I read that she was serious about these donations, I pledged to support her movies in the theaters and um…*sigh* good news, it’s usually not very crowded except for Justice League and the Danish girl was good from what I saw. I fell asleep.

  8. Sage says:

    That’s nice she donated the money however she had every right to keep that money without being shamed.

  9. RspbryChelly says:

    I always see her and think Pineapple Express. She looks so different, still beautiful just so grown, lol. Idk. Good for her though

  10. Mimz says:

    Johnny Depp is forever canceled in my book. Just gross.
    Good for her. I wish people would see past their ‘oh but Johnny is so handsome and i loved him for 30 years” eyes, and see reality as is.

  11. Yawn says:

    It’s interesting to read the comments of the people article or daily mail… no matter what this girl does, whether she’s donating those millions or doing charity work overseas, she’s going to be repeatedly dragged for outing Depp as an abusive drug addicted alcoholic wife beater (even though his drug and alcohol use has been public knowledge for ages). People need to remove the “I loved him in that one movie he did 25 years ago em he was hot” glasses and see their “hero” for what he is…. a drugged up MESS…

  12. Gurl says:

    Like others i’ve been looking at her instagram the past weeks, about her visit to the syrian refugees, she seems genuinely touched and the comments about how nice she is, etc, it’s truly infuriating how Depp tried (and almost succeed) to destroy the image of this woman. He sent all his people to destroy her and now karma is coming for him

    • That’senoughMary says:

      Why do people have such short memories? She had a bad reputation BEFORE the divorce and the abuse was made public. Look at this site alone for how she wasn’t seen favorably before everything with Depp happened.