Amber Heard and Johnny Depp’s divorce settlement saga is never-ending.
The pair’s divorce was drudged up yet again on Monday after a TMZ article questioned why the actress’s agreed-upon donation to a children’s hospital was still missing.
Fortunately, there’s a logical explanation as to why the money still isn’t there. It has nothing to do with Heard withholding the money or speaking out against domestic abuse in a PSA; Depp simply hasn’t given Heard the money.
“The settlement documents are being finalized and will be signed this week,” the actress’ lawyer told TMZ in a statement. “Johnny is obligated by the settlement to pay Amber, and she in turn will honor her pledges to Children’s Hospital and the ACLU.”
In August, the actress announced in a statement that she would donate the entirety of her $7 million divorce settlement money from Depp to charity. The two charities she chose were the American Civil Liberties Union and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles.
A few days after the actress’ announcement, the two parties began fighting over the handling of the settlement money.
Depp wanted to donate the money directly to the charities (which TMZ reports that he did for the first installment, paying $100,000 to each charity) while Heard wanted the money sent to her, which she would then donate. As reps for the actress explained in August, if Depp sent the money directly to the charities, the donations would give him a massive tax break.
“If Johnny wishes to change the settlement agreement, we must insist that he honor the full amount by donating $14M to charity, which after accounting for his tax deduction, is equal to his $7M payment obligation to Amber,” her reps said in a statement to TMZ at the time. “We would also insist that the full amount be paid immediately and not drawn out over many years.”
Prior to the settlement disagreements, Heard had paid $350,000 to the ACLU, a rep confirmed to People.
