Actor Johnny Depp hugs attorney Camille Vasquez in the courtroom at the Fairfax County Circuit Courthouse in Fairfax
(Picture: AP)If you don’t know the name by now you’ll almost certainly know the face: Johnny Depp’s Spanish-speaking attorney Camille Vasquez, 37, quickly became an overnight TikTok sensation during his and Amber Heard’s six-week $50m bombshell defamation trial thanks to her tough cross-examinations of Heard - and her perceived chemistry with Depp.
Marvel memes, I heart Camille t-shirts and even Vasquez tattoos were among the catalogue of fan posts tagged #CamilleVasquez and #CamilleVasquezForPresident around the world.
And Depp’s victory against his ex-wife has only upped the Vasquez fandom further - among Deppheads at least. Since the end of the trial last week, reporters have been scurrying to uncover her boyfriend’s identity (he’s now been named as British WeWork exec Edward Owen, 38, and they reportedly met at a London pub), and some critics have come out to say she won’t be remembered by history kindly. “Shout out to Camille Vasquez for single-handedly setting feminism back 50 years,” one Twitter user said after her spirited defence of Depp.
Either way, the case has certainly upped her professional standing. “I am delighted,” Vasquez said of her promotion to partner at law firm Brown Rudnick this week.
The Californian lawyer has quickly gained global attention for her fierce, straight-talking approach. “You’re the one who assaulted someone with a bottle in Australia, isn’t that right, Ms. Heard?” she asked the actress in her second day of cross-examination last month. “You weren’t scared of him at all, were you?”
She was also the lawyer to whom Heard admitted she hadn’t donated part of her $7 million divorce settlement to charity as promised, and pressed her on several sensitive subjects, such as whether she had edited photos of herself with bruises and how she landed her Aquaman role. “Mr Depp got you that role in Aquaman, didn’t it?” said Vasquez. “No, Miss Vasquez. I got myself that role by auditioning,” Heard was seen snapping back.
Vasquez promptly earned herself a legion of die-hard fans, including a prominent attorney who told the New York Post she was the “unrivalled star” of the trial. Her on-screen “chemistry” with Depp also triggered a tsunami of speculation that the pair were dating, a rumour sources were quick to shut down last month in one of a series of twists in the blockbuster trial.
So what is Vasquez’ background and what do we know about her boyfriend Owen? Here’s what we know so far.
Top of her game
Little is known about Vasquez’ upbringing but reports say she was born in July 1984 to Colombian parents Leonel and Marilia Vasquez, who live in a $1m home in Buena Park in Orange County, California.
Vasquez is also believed to live in Orange County, working for international law firm Brown Rudnick and based in their Californian office there. She specialises in litigation and arbitration and is clearly among the hottest in her field.
“Camille is adept at formulating offensive and defensive litigation strategies for private clients,” reads her bio on the firm’s website. “She also has extensive experience handling parallel reputation management and crisis communications issues arising from these engagements.”
According to the bio, the 37-year-old is fluent in Spanish and graduated from the University of Southern California in 2006 before going on to graduate from Southwestern Law School in LA in the class of 2010.
Little is known about her previous cases, but Brown Rudnick’s site says Vasquez won the Best Lawyers in America award for Ones to Watch, Commercial Litigation for 2021-2022.
She was one of several members of Depp’s legal team, alongside Stephanie Calnan, Andrew Crawford, Rebecca MacDowell Lecaroz, Yarelyn Mena, Jessica Meyers, Samuel Moni and Ben Chew, who has previously represented pop legend Cher. This week, they announced her promotion.
“I am delighted that Brown Rudnick has given me its full vote of confidence by having me join the partnership,” said Vasquez.
“I’m proud of the uniquely talented team I’ve had the privilege to lead, which exemplified teamwork and collaboration, and I look forward to continuing to represent Brown Rudnick’s culture of excellence.”
Power suits and power statements
“So Mr. Depp isn’t the only domestic partner you’ve assaulted, isn’t he Ms. Heard?” Vasquez was seen asking the Aquaman actress during the trial, in one of a series of what are being called “aggressive” cross-examinations.
This particular line of questioning involved a power-suited Vasquez citing an article reporting Heard’s 2009 arrest at the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, after accusations she hit her ex-girlfriend. “You committed violence against Miss Van Reed during you relationship didn’t you?” Vasquez asked. “And it was covered in the press, isn’t that true?”
Other notable put-downs by Vasquez include her suggesting Depp “got [Heard] that role in Aquaman” and edited photographs of her allegedly injured face, several of which escalated into angry back-and-forths between the attorney and the actress.
Supporters of Vasquez’s — most of them die-hard Depp superfans — have been quick to grant her hero status. “In a world of Amber Heards, be a Camille Vasquez,” one tweeted. “In the age of the Kardashians and social media influencers, do your best to make your daughters become the next Camille Vasquez,” said another.
One said that while she is still a Johnny Depp fan, she is also now a “die-hard Camilla Vasquez fan” while another praised a moment where Vasquez quipped, “Let’s see if we can refresh your recollection” after Heard said “I don’t recall”, calling it an “action hero line”.
I am still a Johnny Depp fan, but I am ALSO now a die-hard Camille Vasquez fan #IStandWithJohnyDepp
— Rebecca (@notbecky23) May 17, 2022
But praise for Vasquez hasn’t been restricted to tweets — the meme machine has quickly gone into overdrive. On TikTok, videos tagged #CamilleVasquez have racked up more than 541.8m views and a dedicated new account @camillevasquez already has more than 65.2K followers, with “romantic” clips of her and Depp looking as though they’re holding hands set to pop remixes.
Meanwhile the hashtag #camillevasquezforpresident already pulls up dozens of posts on Instagram, with videos of a smiling Vasquez next to a frowning Heard.
Elsewhere on social media, fans have shared pictures of themselves wearing “I heart Camille Vasquez” t-shirts and memes making her out to be everyone including Marvel character Thor, the Incredible Hulk, Miley Cyrus on a wrecking ball and Reese Witherspoon in Legally Blonde (brunette).
Not all social media users are fans, however. “Shout out to Camille Vasquez for single-handedly setting feminism back 50 years in less than two hours,” said one Twitter user, one of an army of critics claiming the lawyer’s work will only damage the work done by the #MeToo movement. “History won’t remember you kindly.” On that point, time will have to tell.
Courtroom antics, romance rumours and the real(tor) star who’s stolen her heart
Glances across the courtroom. Touches and hugs after cross-examining. Chuckles outside court when asked if she was dating her client Depp.
Predictably, attention didn’t stay on Vasquez’ stellar CV or legal skills for long. Much of the social media storm around the attorney’s appearances in court have not only involved reductive statements about her good looks but her “chemistry” with Depp, which quickly turned into speculation that the two of them are dating. “She is a smitten kitten,” one fan captioned a TikTok clip of the lawyer in court. “I hope she’s single because I see flirting and I hope they live happily ever after,” tweeted another.
If Johnny Depp gets with Miss Camille Vasquez. Omg dating a lawyer would be soooooo cute ahhhhh yassss
— KAT SKETCH 🎨 (@katsketch) May 9, 2022
Well I hope she’s single because I see flirting and I hope they live happily ever after
Journalists have been quick to address the rumours head-on. “The people want to know, are you dating Johnny Depp? It’s all over the internet. Can you set the record straight, yes or no?” a TMZ reporter asked her as she walked out of the Fairfax courtroom last month.
The Californian attorney refused to answer, offering a laugh and a polite “sorry” as she brushes her hair aside and continues waving to fans.
Towards the end of the trial, those rumours were put to bed. Initial reports suggested Vasquet was dating a British man who works in real estate and since the end of the trial, he’s been named as WeWork executive Edward Owen, 38, after he and Vasquez were spotted together at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in Viriginia.
The Cambridge graduate currently works as head of real estate for Europe, the Middle East and Asia for the co-working office-space firm and met Vasquez in November at The Cow gastropub in Notting Hill, according to the Daily Mail.
“It’s quite a new relationship, but Edward is smitten with her,” an insider said. “He has visited Camille in the US since this trial started, and she plans to visit him in the UK as soon as the case is over.
“It’s long-distance and they’re both high flyers in their respective careers, but they’re hoping to make it work.”
Before Owen was named, sources also offered more detail on Vasquez’ relationship with Depp. “As for all the smiling and giggling some have noticed between Johnny and Camille, we’re told she finds him funny... and couldn’t help but laugh at some of his antics and/or his sense of humor,” one said last month.
“More importantly, our sources tell us Camille is happily taken. She’s dating a British fella who works in real estate — with whom she’s been in a serious relationship for several months.”
The source added that “the entire legal team has become pally with Depp, their relationships morphing from simply professional to professional and genuinely friendly”.
The trial might be over but Vasquez’ promotion suggests we’re unlikely to see the last of her in high-profile divorce cases on the world stage. Partner now, president next?
