Charities have said that Johnny Depp is one of the “most generous people” for giving $1 million to charity from the defamation deal he reached with Amber Heard.
On Tuesday, it was stated “that Depp has chosen five charities to give the large settlement” that his ex-wife, Amber Heard, owes him.
The Hollywood Reporter says that the organisations are “the Make-A-Film Foundation, The Painted Turtle, Red Feather, Marlon Brando’s Tetiaroa Society, and the Amazonia Fund Alliance”.
It is thought that each of the five groups will get $200,000 from Pirates of the Caribbean.
The money was especially helpful to the Make-A-Film Foundation, which was one of the nonprofits. A representative for the group told TMZ that Depp was “one of the most generous people we’ve ever worked with.” Make-A-Film gives children who are very sick or will die soon the chance to work with actors to make short films and videos.
The outlet says that each film costs the foundation between $25,000 and $35,000, while documentaries can cost between $3,000 and $5,000. This means that Depp’s gift can go straight to production costs like equipment, props, hair and makeup, and insurance.
Depp, 60, has had a rough few years in the public eye. Last year, he and Heard were involved in a very public court fight after Depp sued Heard, 37, for defamation over an opinion piece she wrote in 2018 about being “a victim of domestic abuse. Even though Heard didn’t name Depp by name in the piece, Depp’s lawyers said it was” a false accusation that the Pirates of the Caribbean star was an abuser.
First, they went to court in the UK, where the case was decided in Heard’s favour. Then, they went to court again in the US last year, where the trial was live-streamed every day, and the jury unanimously ruled in Depp’s favour.
After a six-week trial, Depp was given a total of $15 million, which included $10 million in “compensatory damages” and $5 million in “punitive damages.”
In the months that followed, they both filed appeals, but when the case was settled in December 2022, they both dropped their challenges.
Heard said at the time that even if her appeal had been successful, she “simply cannot go through” another public retrial. She also said that her deal was “not an act of concession.”
Heard paid Depp $1 million as part of the settlement, which was covered by her insurance. Depp promised to give the money to charity, and it looks like he has kept that promise.