isn’t putting a label on his connection with model .
“It’s very casual,” a source tells Us Weekly of Depp and Vlasova’s relationship. “They met a few years ago. They see each other here and there.”
Depp, 61, and Vlasova, 28, were seen spending time together earlier this month. The Daily Mail also posted photos of the couple cozying up to each other (which were originally shared via social media).
This marks Depp’s first public romance since his split from attorney. Depp was linked to Rich after she represented him in his U.K. libel lawsuit against his ex-wife .
The actor was previously married to from 1983 to 1985. He later found love with Heard, 38, and they were married for two years before pulling the plug in 2017. Heard subsequently filed for divorce and obtained a temporary restraining order after she accused Depp of domestic violence.
Depp, who has denied the claims, sued the U.K. newspaper The Sun after they referred to him as a “wife beater” in a 2018 article. During the trial, Depp hired Rich to represent him in the libel lawsuit. He ultimately lost his overseas case two years later.
In 2018, Depp took Heard to court after she penned a Washington Post op-ed about her history with abuse. Depp claimed her article negatively impacted his career even though he was not named in the piece. Meanwhile, Heard argued that she lost out on jobs following their split due to their messy legal battles.
A jury ultimately ruled in favor of Depp after several weeks of testimonies in June 2022. The judge announced that Depp would be awarded $10 million in compensatory damages and $5 million in punitive damages. Heard, for her part, was awarded $2 million in compensatory damages and no punitive damages for her counterclaim.
The actress, who is now living in Spain with her 3-year-old daughter, Oonagh, would only have to pay $10.35 million after the judge reduced the amount due to a Virginia law capping punitive damages. Following the hearing, Depp released a statement to address his reaction to the news.
“From the very beginning, the goal of bringing this case was to reveal the truth, regardless of the outcome,” he told Us that same month. “Speaking the truth was something that I owed to my children and to all those who have remained steadfast in their support of me. I feel at peace knowing I have finally accomplished that.”
Depp said he felt “overwhelmed” by the “outpouring of love and the colossal support and kindness” that he received amid the legal proceedings. “I also hope that the position will now return to innocent until proven guilty, both within the courts and in the media,” he added.
Heard settled the Virginia defamation lawsuit in December 2022.
“After a great deal of deliberation I have made a very difficult decision to settle the defamation case brought against me by my ex-husband in Virginia,” she wrote in an Instagram statement at the time. “It’s important for me to say that I never chose this. I defended my truth and in doing so my life as I knew it was destroyed.”
She continued: “The vilification I have faced on social media is an amplified version of the ways in which women are re-victimised when they come forward. Now I finally have an opportunity to emancipate myself from something I attempted to leave over six years ago and on terms I can agree to. I have made no admission. This is not an act of concession. There are no restrictions or gags with respect to my voice moving forward.”
Heard reflected on how she “lost faith in the American legal system” while comparing her different experiences in U.K. and U.S. courts. She claimed that “abundant, direct evidence that corroborated my testimony was excluded” from the Virginia trial.
“In the interim I was exposed to a type of humiliation that I simply cannot re-live,” she concluded. “Even if my US appeal is successful, the best outcome would be a re-trial where a new jury would have to consider the evidence again. I simply cannot go through that a third time.”
