Amber Heard had a "serious emergency" while out at an event last night, one that forced her to leave early and left close friends concerned.
The actress was set to receive an award at the Unite4:Humanity gala in Los Angeles on April 7. Prior to receiving the startling news, Amber walked the red carpet, donning a menswear-inspired ensemble of a white blouse and black pants, and spent time inside with her sister, Whitney Heart and friend Cara Delevingne. Witnesses told E! News that she later appeared "distressed and unconfortable," and left the event through a side door before she was able to accept her award.
Cara and close friend iO Tillett Wright accepted the honor for Amber's humanitarian work with the American Civil Liberties Union, and explained the extenuating circumstances to the crowd.
"Our dear friend Amber unfortunately suffered a bit of an emergency earlier this evening and she had to go," iO first stated, before clarifying that the situation was very serious. "And I want to also say that I've never seen Amber nervous and I've known her quite intimately for a long time. And she's met pretty much everyone that you could be starstruck by. But Ayaan Hirsi Ali is as close to God as you could get for her, so to know that Ayaan was here and for her to have to leave anyway means that it was a very serious emergency. We both are hoping that she's okay."
iO and Cara also read from Amber's prepared speech, with iO reciting, "As an activist and human, as someone who is intrinsically allergic to justice, I am humbled and honored to be here tonight among so many dedicated world-changers and real life heroes. One of which is my hero, Ayaan Hirsi Ali, who has so graciously donated her time and energy to present this award to me. Having you here tonight is a gift for which I will forever ill equip to adequately pay back."
Cara finished by noting, "So she wants to thank everyone here tonight for their dedicated pursuit of justice and concentrated efforts for making this world a better place."
During their time on stage iO also noted that Amber donated all of the money she gained in her 2016 divorce from Johnny Depp to the ACLU. Giving the proceeds to charity was something Amber promised to do while going through her public split, focusing particularly on two causes — ending violence against women and the Children's Hospital of Los Angeles.