Amber Heard failed to donate $7M divorce settlement to pledged charities

Johnny Depp is accusing ex-wife Amber Heard of lying about donating her $7m divorce settlement to charity. A letter from one of the recipients, the Children's Hospital Los Angeles, somehow gives credence to his claims as it showed she only made one contribution of $100,000.

In 2016, the "Rum Diary" actress pledged $3.5 million to the hospital and the other $3.5 million to the American Civil Liberties Union as part of her court deal. She insisted then that she did not divorce Depp for his money.

But the "Pirates of the Caribbean" star believes that it was all a sham and a letter obtained from the hospital could prove him correct. On June 26, 2019, Candie Davidson-Goldbronn, the Associate Senior Vice President of Children's Hospital Los Angeles, sent Heard a letter asking if she still has plans to honour her pledge as the foundation only received a cheque for $100,000 as "first of multiple scheduled installments" in 2016.

"Since the first installment, CHLA has not received further installments. I am inquiring if you have knowledge if CHLA should expect further installment(s) on your behalf or if the pledge will not be fulfilled," reads an excerpt of the letter published by the Daily Mail.

The letter goes against her witness statement for The Sun on Feb. 26, 2020, in which she told the court that "the entire amount" of her divorce settlement "was donated to charity." Judge Andrew Nichol even cited the donation as "hardly the act one would expect of a gold-digger."

The Children's Hospital Los Angeles refused to discuss the letter any further. Likewise, the American Civil Liberties Union refused to comment. But the "Aquaman" actress' lawyer, Elaine Charlson Bredehoft, confirmed that Heard has yet to fulfill her pledge.

"Amber has already been responsible for seven figures in donations to charitable causes and intends to continue to contribute and eventually fulfill her pledge. However, Amber has been delayed in that goal because Mr. Depp filed a lawsuit against her, and consequently, she has been forced to spend millions of dollars defending Mr. Depp's false accusations against her," Bredehoft said in a statement sent to E! News.

"Mr. Depp's effort to plant stories in the media criticising Amber for not yet fulfilling all the donations she pledged to charity is yet another desperate attempt to divert attention," she added.

It is important to point out though, that Heard had over two years to continue with the installments to her pledged charities. Depp only filed the defamation suit in March 2019 in response to her op-ed published in December 2018.