Amber Heard releases statement after reports she has not donated money from Johnny Depp divorce to charity

Actress says she and the actor's divorce is to be finalised this week

Depp and Heard in January 2016 (Getty Images)

Amber Heard has said the $7 million divorce settlement from Johnny Depp, which she pledged to donate to charity, will be paid as soon as her divorce is finalised after a report questioned why charities had not received the funds.

In August, Heard and Depp settled their acrimonious divorce proceedings out of court. Heard married Depp in February 2015 and filed for divorce in May 2016. In her filing, she claimed she was subjected to emotional and physical abuse from the Pirates of the Caribbean actor throughout their marriage. Depp has always denied the claims.

Depp, 53, agreed to pay Heard, 30, $7m (£5.6m), which she pledged to split equally between the Los Angeles Children’s Hospital, where she is a volunteer, and the American Civil Liberties Union with a particular focus on domestic violence.

On Monday, TMZ ran a report under the headline, “Amber Heard Children’s Hospital Money MIA”. It claimed neither the Children’s Hospital or ACLU had received any further funds since Depp paid an initial instalment of $100,000 to each charity in August.

The gossip website claimed the reason no further donations had been made was because the settlement deal had still not been signed by Depp, who wants to pay the money directly to the charities. Heard wants to receive it directly so her estranged husband does not get a tax deduction.

TMZ later updated its story after receiving a statement from Heard’s lawyer Pierce O’Donnell which explained the hold-up is due to the divorce papers not having been signed yet.

“The settlement documents are being finalised and will be signed this week,” he said. “Johnny is obligated by the settlement to pay Amber and she in turn will honour her pledges to Children’s Hospital and the ACLU.”

“Amber’s commitment to protecting victims of domestic violence and helping sick children is her life’s work. Her recent PSA on domestic violence does not violate her settlement agreement with Johnny. She will continue to lend her voice to the rising chorus of women speaking out about this terrible scourge on the American family.”

The ACLU also told the website they had received some further payment when Heard made a $350,000 payment in August with sources claiming it was an advanced payment relying on Depp to then pay her the rest of the settlement.

This is not the first back-and-forth between the couple over the financial details of their divorce. After making the initial $200,000 payment to the charitable organisations, Depp released a statement saying the instalments had been made by him “in the name of Amber Heard, which when completed will honour the full amount of Ms Heard’s pledge”.

Heard responded by saying that while she appreciates Depp’s “novel interest in supporting two of her favourite charities, if Johnny wishes to change the settlement agreement, we must insist that he honour the full amount by donating $14million to charity, which, after accounting for his tax deduction, is equal to his $7million payment obligation to Amber.

“We would also insist that the full amount be paid immediately and not drawn out over many years.”

Representatives for Heard and Depp did not immediately respond to requests for comment.