Johnny Depp has a new love interest in his life, and she’s a lawyer. But it’s not that lawyer.
According to multiple reports, the Pirates of the Caribbean star is dating Joelle Rich, the U.K. lawyer who represented him in his libel lawsuit against The Sun’s publisher, News Group Newspapers, after the outlet published an article in April 2018 referring to Depp as a “wife beater.” Depp lost that lawsuit in November 2020 after the judge in the case ruled The Sun proved that what it published in the article was “substantially true.”
A little over four months later, the U.K. court would deny the actor’s request to appeal the ruling. At the time, Rich of Schillings Partners told Deadline she “seriously questioned” the U.K. court’s decision and that the actor was looking forward to “presenting the complete, irrefutable evidence of truth in U.S libel case against Ms Heard where she will have to provide full disclosure.”
Rich was not part of Depp’s legal team that won a six-week case in Virginia, but she did appear in support. She was photographed once outside the courthouse with Depp, and again inside when she hugged one of his attorneys.
There are conflicting reports on whether the relationship between Depp and Rich is serious. In any event, the new romance puts to bad rumors that swirled around Depp and Vasquez just a few months ago.
Many people became fans of Vasquez after she defended Depp in May and grilled Heard on the witness stand. Some even went so far as to say that she would be the one to end Heard’s career. A TikTok video shows Depp looking at Vasquez and smiling as she talks, with the caption “The way he looks at her.”
The attorney was seen embracing the actor after she was dismissed from the witness stand, leading to speculation that the two might be dating. The photographer asked her if she was dating Depp, to which she smiled and chuckled but did not provide an answer.
A source told ET that the rumors about Vasquez and Depp being in a relationship were “entirely, 100 percent, unequivocally untrue.” The following month, Vasquez told People that she was disappointed by the rumors and found them to be sexist. “It’s disappointing that certain outlets kind of ran with it or said that my interactions with Johnny — who is a friend and I’ve known and represented for four-and-a-half years now — were inappropriate or unprofessional,” she said. “It’s unfortunate and it’s disappointing, but at the same time it kind of comes with the territory. I can’t say I was all that surprised.”
