Amber Heard sought plush payoff from Johnny Depp in exchange for silence
Actress Amber Heard sought a plush payoff from estranged ex Johnny Depp in exchange for holding off on going public with their troubled life together, a new court filing shows.
The “Aquaman” actress said she wouldn’t immediately file an order of protection if Depp gave her access to his SUV and three downtown Los Angeles penthouses — all at his expense, according to a 2016 letter presented at the former couple’s bombshell defamation trial.
The May 24, 2016 letter from Heard attorney Samantha Spector, sought a lucrative arrangement to “do everything possible to keep this personal matter out of the media spotlight.”
Spector said the actress demanded “exclusive use and possession of the black Range Rover, the vehicle she is currently driving, with Johnny to continue to make all payments.”
Heard also requested “exclusive use and possession of 849 S. Broadway, Penthouse Nos. 1, 3 and 5 with Johnny continuing to pay mortgage, utilities, etc.,” and also sought $100,000 in legal fees and $25,000 “for forensic account costs.”
The letter was presented as an exhibit Wednesday in Depp’s defamation trial against 36-year-old Heard in Fairfax, Virginia, where he is seeking $50 million from his ex-wife.
In testimony Thursday, ACLU General Counsel Terence Daugherty said Heard never made good on her $3.5 million pledge to the organization, paying only $350,000.
Daugherty said the ACLU reached out to Heard in 2019 about the pledged annual installments “and we learned that she was having financial difficulties.”
He said contributions to the organization included a $1 million donation from Elon Musk, who dated Heard after her split with Depp.
In other testimony, Daugherty said ACLU staffers pushed to beef up a 2018 Washington Post op-ed piece about domestic violence penned by Heard.
The final piece — which is at the center of their ongoing court battle — didn’t name Depp as an abuser but made not-so-thinly-veiled references that left little doubt it referred to the troubled actor, Daugherty said.
Meanwhile, Depp, 58, chomped on Gummy Bears as he sat in court listening to Daughterty’s pre-taped deposition from December — just feet from Heard.
