Topline
An executive for the American Civil Liberties Union testified Thursday in Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s defamation trial that he believes Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who dated Heard, paid a portion of the $3.5 million the actress promised the organization—only $1.3 million of which was paid.
Elon Musk, head of Tesla, stands on the construction site of the Tesla Gigafactory.
Key Facts
When Depp and Heard finalized their divorce in 2016, Depp paid Heard a $7 million settlement, which Heard said she would donate to charity, with half going to the ACLU and half going to the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
In a pre-recorded deposition, Terence Dougherty, general counsel and COO of the ACLU said four donations were made in Heard’s name: $350,000 directly from Heard made in 2016, a $100,000 check from Johnny Depp, $500,000 from a fund and $350,000 from another fund, according to Insider.
Dougherty believes the $500,000 payment came from a fund linked to Musk, who Heard dated briefly after her marriage to Depp ended.
Musk emailed an ACLU executive in 2016 on Heard’s behalf and said she would donate the money over a 10-year-period, though she never signed a pledge prepared for her by the organization, Dougherty said, according to Insider and Deadline.
In 2019, when the ACLU expected another donation installment from Heard, “we learned that she was having financial difficulties,” Dougherty said.
Dougherty said the ACLU was involved with crafting the 2018 Op-Ed piece Heard wrote for the Washington Post the trial centers around—which identified her as an “ambassador on women’s rights at the American Civil Liberties Union”—and said Depp’s alleged abuse of Heard was mentioned to an editor while pitching the article, but all direct references to him and their marriage were removed before publication.
Key Background
Though the article did not mention Depp by name, Heard described herself in it as “a public figure representing domestic abuse,” saying she gained that label “two years ago,” meaning 2016, the year she and Depp divorced. When the couple split, Heard filed a temporary restraining order against the Edward Scissorhands actor, and said he had abused her throughout their relationship. The restraining order was dropped and when their divorce was finalized the couple released a statement saying “neither party has made false accusations for financial gain.” Depp has repeatedly denied the claims of abuse, and claimed the suggestion of him having abused Heard ruined his career. He sued Heard for $50 million for defamation, and also sued a British paper, The Sun, for libel for calling him a “wife beater.” In 2020 a judge ruled in favor of The Sun, and said there was “overwhelming evidence” Depp abused Heard. Heard countersued Depp for $100 million. Earlier this week, Depp testified that Heard was the abuser in the relationship.
Tangent
A video deposition from Christian Carino, a talent agent who represented both Depp and Heard, was played in court Wednesday. During his testimony Carino read a text exchange between him and Heard about Heard’s breakup from Musk, who Twitter’s board agreed to sell the social media company to this week for $44 billion. “You weren’t in love with him, and you told me a thousand times you were just filling space,” Carino wrote to Heard when she expressed sadness over their split, according to Vulture.
What To Watch For
Unlike Depp, Heard has not yet taken the stand to tell her side of the story.
Further Reading
Johnny Depp Defamation Trial: Here Are The Key Moments From The Actor’s Testimony (Forbes)
How the Domestic Violence Column That Landed Johnny Depp and Amber Heard in Court Was Written (The Daily Beast)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/marisadellatto/2022/04/28/musk-likely-paid-portion-of-amber-heards-pledged-aclu-donations-exec-testifies/