Amber Heard Donated Her $7 Million Divorce Settlement to Charity

…So everyone can go right ahead and pipe down now.

But let me bring you up to speed: Amber Heard has donated her $7 million settlement from her divorce to Johnny Depp to two charities, according to Us Weekly.

“As described in the restraining order and divorce settlement, money played no role for me personally and never has, except to the extent that I could donate it to charity and, in doing so, hopefully help those less able to defend themselves,” said Heard.

“As reported in the media, the amount received in the divorce was $7 million and $7 million is being donated,” she continued. “This is over and above any funds that I have given away in the past and will continue to give away in the future.”

FYI: Amber Heard will be donating the funds to the ACLU and the Children’s Hospital of Los Angeles. The ACLU seeks to help battered women.

“I know these organizations will put the funds to good use and look forward to continuing to support them in the future. Hopefully this experience results in a positive change in the lives of people who need it the most.”

So basically, everyone who said Amber Heard was in it for the money or that her claims of abuse at the hands of ex-husband Johnny Depp was a cash grab/call for attention can, in a word (or two), get fucked.

First, because as human beings, it is our job to believe women. It is our job to believe them when they say they have been abused or harassed or raped or threatened or anything remotely close to any of the above. Second, because how dare any of us say “Nah . . .” because it’s inconvenient to believe a celebrity we’re familiar with could hurt women. The day the abuse accusations came to pass, I saw more than a few celebrities RT’d who were urging us to embrace Depp’s “nice guy” persona while throwing his victim under the bus. (Remember Doug Stanhope’s blog? What the shit was that?) And while I’m sure Johnny’s friends were never treated to his brand of (alleged — I get it) abuse, it’s still a more-than-awful look to assume a woman’s lying just because it’d be easier if she was.

It isn’t.

It never is. Every time a woman opens up about her abuse or rape or harassment, she is brave and she is strong and she is putting herself in the line of fire. The only lie that would be easier is “Nothing happened.” Since the divorce announcement and abuse allegations, Heard has been repeatedly subjected to scrutiny and criticism and theories about who she really is and what she really wants.  And it turns out — as it often does — that who she is is a survivor of domestic violence. And what she wanted was to leave. That was it. She wanted out. And on top of wanting out, she wanted to draw attention to the fact that the reason she was leaving was because a man — her husband — hurt her. That’s it, that’s all, and yet too many put her through the ringer because that’s what everybody does.

But you don’t have to. You can be different. You can believe women. You can make a woman’s admission easier. You can choose not to be the problem. You can choose to be a real ally. And by doing so, you can choose to make it less hard for more women to come forward in the future.