On Thursday (April 28th), Terence Dougherty, the General Counsel for the ACLU, testified in Johnny Depp‘s defamation trial against Amber Heard. Heard pledged to donate half of the $7 million she received from her divorce settlement with Depp to the organization, but it appears the Aquaman actress has not paid this pledge in full.
In a video deposition, Dougherty said the organization has received $1.3 million of the $3 million pledged. The organization also believes $500,000 of what was donated in Heard’s name came from Elon Musk, whom Heard dated after she and Depp split up.
Heard’s donations stopped after 2018, when Dougherty said the organization found out “she was having financial difficulties.”
ACLU SAYS WASHINGTON POST OP-ED WAS TIMED AROUND AQUAMAN RELEASE
According to Variety, the ACLU was also involved in helping Heard with “conceiving, drafting and placing” the op-ed piece she wrote for The Washington Post about surviving domestic violence. Dougherty testified that the op-ed was timed around the release of Aquaman.
“From the ACLU’s perspective, Amber is about to receive an incredible amount of press and be in the public eye. So what better a time would it be than now to put out this op-ed, so that it generates significant readership about our issues,” he said.
Deadline reports that Heard is set to testify as the first defense witness next week. She could take the stand as early as Monday (May 2nd).
