According to reports, Johnny Depp is dating Joelle Rich, who previously defended the controversial actor in his failed UK trial against The Sun tabloid newspaper.
The Pirates of the Caribbean actor filed a lawsuit against News Group Newspapers in 2020 for an April 2018 piece that described him as a “wife-beater” and detailed allegations of abuse against his ex-wife Amber Heard.
Justice Andrew Nicol listened to agonizing testimony stories from Depp and Heard over the course of over three weeks that summer, during which the two accused the other of abusing her. Later that fall, Nicol declared that Heard’s claims were “substantially true” and that “the great majority of alleged assaults of Ms. Heard by Mr. Depp” had “been proved to the civil standard.”
It would be “ridiculous,” according to Rich, one of Depp’s attorneys, if the actor didn’t appeal the decision.
The mother of two is now going through a divorce, according to TMZ, which has supposedly “confirmed” that the two are now having romantic relationships.
Rich was apparently there in the courtroom for “support” even though she was not a member of Depp’s legal team during his Virginia defamation lawsuit, according to Us Weekly.
This information was revealed a short time after Camille Vasquez, Depp’s American lawyer, denied dating him in an interview with People.
“I guess it comes with the territory of being a woman just doing her job,” Vasquez said at the time. “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 — that my interactions in any way were inappropriate or unprofessional. That’s disappointing to hear.”