Johnny Depp Sues The American Civil Liberties Union For Confirmation Of Amber Heard’s Alleged Divorce Settlement Donation

Josh Berger |

May 21, 2021

The ongoing feud between Pirates of the Caribbean actor Johnny Depp and ex-wife Amber Heard has been going on for quite a while now, and it doesn’t seem like it will be coming to an end any time soon — especially now that Depp is reportedly suing the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).

People Magazine reports that Depp is taking the ACLU to court because the Pirates of the Caribbean actor has not received confirmation from them regarding whether or not Heard actually followed through on her public pledge to donate part of her $7 Million divorce settlement to the organisation.

According to the documents obtained by the outlet, Depp “respectfully requests that this Court enter an order directing ACLU Witnesses to fully comply with the Subpoenas.”

The source reveals that the subpoenas are for “discovery concerning any donations to the ACLU Foundation by Ms. Heard or in her name, and/or any public statements related to such donations; communications with Ms. Heard or those acting on her behalf concerning her relationship with Mr. Depp and divorce from Mr. Depp; discovery concerning Ms. Heard’s work as an ‘ambassador’ for the ACLU Foundation and the conception, drafting, and placement of the Op-Ed; and communications with Ms. Heard or those acting on her behalf concerning the Virginia Action and the preparation and submission of the Wizner Declaration.”

These items are expected to be used by Depp as aid in his $50M USD defamation trial against ex-wife Amber Heard.

To further contextualise, information shared in January of this year revealed that Depp’s legal team had alleged that Heard had lied about donating part of her divorce settlement money to the organisation.

This isn’t to say that the Aquaman actress didn’t donate the money, though, since she did make a donation. However, it wasn’t quite the amount she had originally pledged, with members of Depp’s legal team further alleging that she kept the remainder for herself.

Heard had previously pledged to donate the entirety of her $7 million divorce settlement in roughly equal amounts to the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. However, documents obtained by the Daily Mail revealed that the actress had only donated the sum of $100,000, and then only to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Depp’s new legal action against the ACLU could force the non-profit organisation to provide evidence that Heard donated the divorce settlement money, in order to confirm or deny that the actress had opted to keep the money instead.

People Magazine reports, however, that Heard did donate the money to both charities, albeit via anonymous donors.

“To support this, Heard’s attorneys provided their own evidence, which they say showed that the Aquaman star has, in fact, gifted a total of $950,000 to the ACLU and $850,000 to the Children’s Hospital through anonymous donors,” explained the outlet via information obtained by Heard’s legal team.

On top of this, Heard’s legal team also stated that the actress had actually “pledged to pay over 10 years,” and thus argued there was “nothing dishonest” with the lack of donations she had made to ACLU and Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

Heard is also currently being investigated for perjury by the Los Angeles Police Department, after new evidence seemingly suggested that the Justice League actress lied about the incident in which she claimed ex-husband Johnny Depp attacked her in their then-shared penthouse home.

Body cam footage from May of 2016, the night in which the alleged attack took place, seemingly proves that Depp never smashed up the penthouse the couple was sharing at the time of the incident.

What’s more, officers Melissa Saenz and Tyler Hadden — who first responded to the calls about domestic disturbance at Depp and Heard’s penthouse — reported that they didn’t spot anything suspicious during their time in the residence, and further noted that they didn’t even see any signs of damage.

“I did not identify her as a victim of domestic violence,” said officer Saenz, adding that “We met with the victim, we checked the location, the husband wasn’t there, and that the victim advised us she wasn’t going to give us further information.”

If her initial allegations are found to be false, things could get even worse for the actress. According to Penal Code 118 PC of California’s Perjury Laws, perjury is “a felony punishable by a maximum sentence of up to 4 years in jail or prison.”

It is also worth noting that both officers arrived at Depp and Heard’s penthouse at different times, and both of their testimonies agree with one another — suggesting that Heard could’ve well lied about the whole incident.

This would also discredit Heard’s original testimony, which was actually supported by the actress’ friend Rocky Pennington and his husband Josh Drew.

According to Pennington’s version of the incident, “They have a big kitchen island in the middle of the kitchen and on there, there’s candles and like fruit and, you know, glass, like jars and vases and things like that”

He continued, “And he just was hitting everything with the wine bottle, just smashing it all off. So there was fruit on the floor and baskets and, you know, glass bottles and flowers.”

In his own testimony, Drew agreed with his husband’s interpretations of events, recalling, “In Penthouse 3 there was a number of broken glass and items strewn about the counters and the floor in the kitchen. Only in the kitchen.”

He then added, “It was sort of around the kitchen island. In the hallway, outside of the penthouse, was quite a bit of spilled wine. I don’t believe we dealt with that at all.”

The footage recorded by the officer’s body cam, upon arriving Depp and Heard’s penthouse the night the alleged assault took place in May of 2016, reveals that Depp had not smashed up the place with a wine bottle, like Pennington and Drew claimed.

It will be interesting to see not only what the American Civil Liberties Union reveals in regards to Heard’s alleged donations, but what Depp will do with the information if it is confirmed that his ex-wife had been lying this whole time, especially now that she’s being investigated by the LAPD for potential perjury.

A $100M USD countersuit to Depp’s defamation suit was issued by Heard in January, but it is yet to receive a court date.

What do you make of Johnny Depp suing ACLU to force them to reveal whether Amber Heard donated the divorce settlement money that she originally pledged? Let us know in the comments section down below or on social media.