Order in the court! Johnny Depp's former lawyer is reportedly divorcing her husband to be with the actor, multiple sources have claimed.
Experienced libel litigator, Joelle Rich, acted on behalf of Depp during his 2020 libel trial against UK paper, The Sun, after they published an article in 2018, calling the 59-year-old a "wife beater," US Weekly reports.
Depp did not win that particular lawsuit, and he filed an appeal to overturn the decision, which was subsequently rejected by the Court of Appeal.
Rich was not part of the legal team that represented Depp during his 2022 Virginia trial against his ex-wife, Amber Heard, however US Weekly stated that she was in the courtroom as a show of support for the Pirates of the Caribbean star.
"There was no professional obligation for her being there. It was personal," a source told the publication.
Several unidentified insiders have revealed that the couple are getting quite "serious," saying "their chemistry is off the charts" and that they're "the real deal."
Per Page Six, London-based Rich is married but currently separated and in the process of divorcing her husband. US Weekly detailed that the lawyer also shares two children with her estranged husband.
According to her LinkedIn page, Rich "specializes in helping people and companies in the public eye protect their privacy and reputations, mainly at times of crisis," and she is a partner at international reputation and privacy consultancy law firm, Schillings.
The firm has acted on behalf of a number of high-profile figures, including Meghan Markle (in a lawsuit brought against The Mail on Sunday for a breach of privacy) and J.K. Rowling (who sued a lawyer after they revealed her writing pseudonym).
Rumors of a romance between Depp and his lawyer come months after similar gossip swirled that the Charlie and the Chocolate Factory star was getting cozy with Camille Vasquez, the lawyer who represented him in his lawsuit against Heard this year.
The 38-year-old has publicly spoken about the rumors, which she said were utterly "sexist." In an interview with People in June, Vasquez told the publication: "I guess it comes with the territory of being a woman just doing her job."
The California-based attorney continued: "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."
"I care very deeply about my clients, and we have obviously become close. But when I say we, I mean the entire team, and of course that includes Johnny [...] And, I'm Cuban and Colombian. I'm tactile. What do you want me to say? I hug everyone. And I'm not ashamed about that," she added.