nov 28, 2016 - Amber Heard's domestic violence PSA didn't break $7M divorce settlement with Johnny Depp: lawyer

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FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY NEWS:

Amber Heard's recent PSA on domestic violence didn't violate the terms of her $7 million divorce pact with Johnny Depp, her lawyer said Monday, and he expects both sides to sign the settlement this week.

The signatures would set the stage for her megabucks payments to two charities, the lawyer said, and could lead a judge to finalize the divorce in a matter of weeks.

"It's been delayed, which is endemic to divorce cases like this, but we expect we'll sign this thing this week. It includes an instalment plan, and she's worked out a payment schedule with the charities," Heard's lawyer Pierce O'Donnell told the Daily News.

Heard announced in August she planned to give her full $7 million award to the ACLU and Children's Hospital of Los Angeles. The ACLU money was earmarked for programs that help defend battered women, she said.

"Johnny is obligated by the settlement to pay Amber, and she in turn will honor her pledges," O'Donnell said in a media statement Monday. "Amber's commitment to protecting victims of domestic violence and helping sick children is her life's work."

He was adamant Heard's new PSA with the GirlGaze Project "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," O'Donnell said.

Heard, 30, does not name Depp in the PSA.

"How is this happening to me? I'm strong. I'm smart. I'm not a victim. There is a lot of shame attached to that label of victim. It happens to so many women. When it happens at home behind closed doors, it's not as straightforward as if a stranger did this," she says in the emotional video, her eyes welling with tears at one point.

Heard filed for divorce in May, arguing Depp had been verbally and physically abusive "during the entirety of our relationship."
She claimed he went into a violent rage during one fight in May and battered her with a cell phone, pulled her hair, smashed bottles of wine and trashed her painting studio.

She won a temporary stay-away order and was on the verge of testifying at a court hearing when the couple reached their settlement.
"Our relationship was intensely passionate and at times volatile, but always bound by love," the couple said in a joint statement announcing the deal. "Neither party has made false accusations for financial gain."

It claimed "there was never any intent of physical or emotional harm."

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