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.”
“It’s important for me to say that I never chose this,” Heard wrote in a statement shared to social media. “I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed.”
She continued, writing, “I make this decision having lost faith in the American legal system, where my unprotected testimony served as entertainment and social media fodder.”
Lawyers for Depp said the settlement would “formally close the door on this painful chapter for Mr. Depp, who made clear throughout this process that his priority was about bringing the truth to light.”
Since their high-profile defamation lawsuit last year, Depp has starred in the new French-language film, Jeanne du Barry, in which he plays the former King of France Louis XV. He made an appearance at the Cannes International Film Festival for a screening last month.
Heard now lives in Spain. People magazine reported the actor moved to Madrid with her daughter after the Virginia defamation trial ended.
In a video posted to social media, Heard answered questions from a local reporter about her new life. In Spanish, Heard said she’s moved on and loves living in Spain.
She is set to attend Italy’s 69th Taormina Film Festival this month as part of her new movie In The Fire. Heard plays a widowed American psychiatrist working with a child some believe is possessed by the devil.
The film is her first since DC Studios released Zack Snyder’s Justice League in 2021.