Just when you thought the Johnny Depp and Amber Heard story couldn't get any stranger...
Rumors have swirled recently that Depp has been dating one of his lawyers in his fight against ex-wife Heard, Camille Vasquez. That quickly turned out to be untrue.
But Depp is dating one of his attorneys from his UK libel case involving Heard from 2020, Joelle Rich--and according to a report in TMZ, things are serious enough she's divorcing her husband.
Rich was part of Depp's legal team in London when he sued UK tabloid The Sun for libel after they called him a "wife beater" following his Heard's 2018 op-ed in The Washington Post in which she alleged physical and sexual abuse from an unnamed partner widely believed to be Depp.
Depp lost that case when the UK court ruled it was "substantially true" that he had abused Heard. The US defamation trial between Depp and Heard of course went very differently--Heard was demanded to pay Depp more than $10 million in damages.
Amid the months-long media circus that ensued around that trial, Depp's fans came to regard Vasquez as a hero, and the two were rumored to be romantically involved for quite some time.
But that turns out to have been more like fan-fiction than real-life. In reality, it was Rich, who was frequently seen in attendance at Depp's trial with Heard despite not having anything to do with the case.
Rich is a UK-based attorney whose website says she "works to defend [clients'] reputations against false and defamatory allegations in print, online, and on social media.
Her website also says she has "particular expertise in protecting individuals' privacy from unwarranted intrusion and media attention."
But that doesn't seem to have borne out in this particular case, as this latest bit of gossip about Depp has definitely not escaped social media's notice.
Rich shares two children with her estranged husband. Depp also has two adult children from his previous relationship with actor Vanessa Paradis.
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