Another gross twist to the Johnny Depp/Amber Heard saga this week, as it turns out Heard’s 2018 domestic violence article which is at the centre of the case was actually ghost-written by the ACLU (American Civil Liberties Union) in exchange for $3.5 million… which she never paid them.

Depp’s entire claim is that Heard ruined his acting career when she published a 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post describing herself as “a public figure representing domestic abuse”—an obvious reference to the public accusations of assault she made against Depp. It turns out Heard didn’t even pitch the idea to the Post – the ACLU did. Terence Dougherty, the organisation’s Chief Operation Officer, has confirmed that the ACLU arranged the article and served as Heard’s ghostwriter in exchange for her promise to donate $3.5 million to the organisation.

The promised donation also granted Heard the title of ACLU “ambassador on women’s rights with a focus on gender-based violence.” When Heard failed to pay up, the ACLU collected $100,000 from Depp himself, and another $500,000 from a fund connected to Elon Musk, whom Heard dated after the divorce.

Heard also pushed for the article to be published around the same time as the release of her film Aquaman. This is all covered in a new article from The Atlantic about how corrupt the ACLU – a civil rights organisation – has become in recent years. An organisation that was literally created to protect Americans from abuse of power, and here they are accepting bribes of $3.5 million to transform a scandal-plagued actress into a victims’ advocate and advance her career while destroying her alleged abuser. Not only that – they ended up taking payment from said alleged abuser and Heard’s new boyfriend after she didn’t pay up. What an absolute p*ss-take!

Should Depp be taking the ACLU to court for spearheading and writing the article, rather than Amber Heard? I guess the person it was ghost-written for is probably the responsible party. I wonder if Depp even know what was in the article when he paid for it on Heard’s behalf? Doubtful, but another mind-boggling layer to this drama if he did.

The Johnny Depp/Amber Heard trial resumes next week – here’s the reason why it’s been suspended.