Depp’s fling with married British lawyer fizzles out
HAS the ‘ yo-ho-ho’ gone out of Captain Jack Sparrow’s stranger- thanfiction romance? Actor Johnny Depp, 59, was dating London lawyer Joelle Rich, 37, a privately-educated mother of two.
The pair were seen shooting each other tender glances during his court case this spring in Fairfax, Virginia, and Rich was spotted travelling to court with Depp by car. When news of the liaison broke last month, it was said that they enjoyed ‘off the scale chemistry’.
However there was no sign of the actor when Rich attended a family wedding in Ibiza last weekend and sources in New York believe that the relationship is fizzling out — and may actually already be over.
A pal of Depp’s says: ‘Are they still an item? We are not talking about a normal couple here. It’s not a big, stable, committed love affair and I’m not sure that it ever was.
‘I don’t know if they are together in any way at this point. Certainly I don’t believe it is a serious romantic relationship, or even an exclusive one.’
The source added: ‘Firstly, he has just come out of a massive legal battle [with ex-wife Amber Heard], so who would want to commit after that? It has been an extremely traumatic period for him.
‘Secondly, he’s Johnny Depp and I don’t think a standard committed relationship is going to be his thing.’
London friends of Rich say that her plans for a divorce from husband Jonathan are still progressing.
Joelle and Jonathan have two children and lived together in a £1.5 million house in North London. They were married in 2011.
Since the trial, in which Depp sued Heard over an article she wrote for the Washington Post, the actor has spent a few months in France making the French language film Jeanne du Barry, in which he plays Louis XV.
Since that wrapped last month he has taken up his music career again, playing dates in the U.S. with guitar hero Jeff Beck, and planning a UK tour next year with Alice Cooper in supergroup Hollywood Vampires.
Rich remains a partner at UK law firm Schillings and is said to earn £250,000 a year. She met Depp in 2018 when the company was hired to sue The Sun for libel, after the tabloid called him a wife-beater.
He lost his libel action, but the tables were turned in the U.S. trial. It ended with humiliation for Heard, who was ordered to pay him £9.2 million in damages.
Law Society guidelines state that a relationship between a solicitor and client is acceptable as long as there is no conflict of interest. There is no suggestion that such a conflict existed in this case.