Back in August, Johnny Depp and Amber Heard reached a settlement after one of the ugliest celebrity divorce battles in recent memory.
However, like every other development in the bitter breakup, the deal was quickly revealed to be more far more complicated than it initially seemed.
Ironically, the trouble started when Heard vowed to donate her settlement cash to two charitable organizations.
Some saw the move as an effort to wring some good from a bad situation.
Others viewed it as a giant middle finger to Depp and those who claimed she had leveled abuse allegations in order to score a larger settlement.
In what was perceived by many as an effort to call Heard’s “bluff,” Depp offered to donate directly to the charities himself, rather than cut a check to his ex so that she could pass along the seven-figure gifts.
Before the deal was approved, Depp went ahead and paid out the first installments of the plan to the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles, the two charities selected by Heard.
Heard’s lawyers viewed the move as an effort to rob her of positive press coverage and score a massive tax write-off for Depp at the same time.
Now, the deal is back in court to be subjected to another round of wrangling.
Thus far, only the first round of $ 200,000 payments has been received by either charity.
New legal documents obtained by E! News reveal that Heard penned a declaration to the court, intended to clarify that she feels Depp is solely responsible for the fact that the cash has not been delivered to its intended recipients:
“When Johnny learned that I planned to donate my entire marital settlement to charities, Johnny purported to satisfy his obligation to pay me by supposedly paying the charities I selected instead of me,” Heard writes.
“He also claimed that I violated the confidentiality provisions of the [Deal Point Memorandum] by announcing that I was donating my settlement to charities.”
She adds:
“In fact, I made those donations in good faith and I was responding to the leaks by Johnny’s agents bragging that I had settled for substantially less than a reported, earlier offered sum and attempting to label me a gold digger.”
The actress goes on to accuse Depp of planting defamatory tabloid stories in order to damage her career.
Depp has yet to respond to Heard’s latest allegations.
