Los Angeles: Hollywood star Johnny Depp and Joelle Rich, a lawyer who represented him in his U.K. libel lawsuit, are no longer seeing each other.
Back in September, a source confirmed to PEOPLE that the actor, 59, and the London lawyer were “dating, but it’s not serious.”
Rich was on Depp’s legal team during his libel case against The Sun, which he lost in November 2020. He sued the UK newspaper for calling him a “wife-beater,” but the court upheld the outlet’s claims as being “substantially true” and his ex-wife Amber Heard testified to back up the claims. In March 2021, his attempt to overturn the decision was overruled.
Rich was not among his lawyers in this year’s defamation case against Heard, 36, that was held in Fairfax County, Virginia, reports people.com.
He won that case; a jury found that Heard defamed him in her 2018 op-ed about domestic violence, though she didn’t mention him by name. Depp was awarded more than $10 million in damages.
Heard, meanwhile, won one of her three defamation countersuit claims and was awarded $2 million. They are both now appealing the verdicts.
While she didn’t officially represent him during the trial, Rich was still present for some of the Virginia proceedings to show support in the courtroom.
She was photographed smiling while walking ahead of the actor on May 2, and she was pictured looking at something on his phone during a break outside the courtroom the following day.
Rich also hugged Depp’s attorney Camille Vasquez inside the courtroom on May 16 and later was seen exiting the courthouse with Depp and his team on May 19.
According to her bio, Rich “helps individuals and families in the public eye protect their privacy and reputations” and has “expertise in libel, privacy and copyright disputes.” She “works to defend (clients’) reputations against false and defamatory allegations in print, online and on social media.”
After the June 1 verdict, Depp said the “best is yet to come” for him, and added that the jury “gave me my life back.” He also thanked his “diligent and unwavering legal team who did an extraordinary job in helping me to share the truth.”
He has since gone on a music tour promoting his rock album with Jeff Beck, made a cameo during the MTV VMAs broadcast and appears in Rihanna’s upcoming fashion show special for Prime Video.
At the time, Heard called the verdict a setback for women: “I’m heartbroken that the mountain of evidence still was not enough to stand up to the disproportionate power, influence and sway of my ex-husband. I’m even more disappointed with what this verdict means for other women. It is a setback.”
“It sets back the clock to a time when a woman who spoke up and spoke out could be publicly shamed and humiliated. It sets back the idea that violence against women is to be taken seriously.
(IANS)
