A tough cross. Amid Johnny Depp and Amber Heard’s ongoing defamation lawsuit, one of the Pirates of the Caribbean star’s attorneys has made headlines for her no-nonsense line of questioning.
Camille Vasquez is a litigation associate for Brown Rudnick, the firm that Depp, 58, hired to oversee his legal defense. Vasquez, 37, has been questioning Heard, 36, earlier this week about the nature of her relationship with Depp and the timeline of their divorce.
“[James Franco] was my friend. And he lived next door, quite literally next door,” the Aquaman actress told Vasquez on Tuesday, May 17, of their connection shortly before her divorce. “And I, frankly, had exhausted my support network with my usual friends and was happy to welcome as much friendship at that time as I could possibly get.”
The Dark Shadows star is suing Heard — whom he was married to between 2015 and 2017 — for defamation following a 2018 article she wrote for the Washington Post. In the editorial, Heard revealed she was a survivor of domestic abuse. While the Friday Night Lights alum did not name her alleged attacker in the op-ed, Depp’s team claimed there were parallels between the Kentucky native and the allegations.
Heard — who initially connected with Depp on the 2009 set of The Rum Diary — previously claimed on the stand that she was not sure if she would make it out of their marriage.
“Unfortunately, all of this is real. I narrowly survived it, but I survived it,” Heard said in her Monday, May 16, testimony, referring to her past allegations that Depp abused her. “I tried to protect Johnny — and the secret I tried hard to keep for five years. … I was scared and very conflicted because the person I was scared of was also the person I was in love with.”
The Danish Girl actress added: “I knew that if I didn’t, I’d likely not literally survive. I was so scared that it was going to end really badly for me, and I really didn’t want to leave him.”
Depp, for his part, took the stand last month and fervently denied Heard’s claims.
“It’s been six years of trying times,” the 21 Jump Street alum said during his April 19 testimony. “It’s pretty strange when one day you’re Cinderella, so to speak, then 0.6 seconds you’re Quasimodo. I didn’t deserve that, nor did my children [Lily-Rose and Jack Depp, whom he shares with ex Vanessa Paradis], nor did the people who have believed in me for all these years. I didn’t want any of those people to believe that I had done them wrong or lied to them or that I was a fraud. I pride myself on honesty.”
He continued: “Since I knew there was no truth to it whatsoever, I felt it my responsibility to stand up not only for myself in that instance but stand up for my children, who at the time were 14 and 16.”
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, please call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233 for confidential support.
Scroll below to get to know Vasquez amid the trial:
Vasquez works as a litagation associate at Brown Rudnick’s Litigation & Arbitration Practice Group, which is based in Orange County, California. Kevin Lamarque/AP/Shutterstock
According to the Southwestern Law School grad’s profile on Brown Rudnick’s website, she focuses on defamation suits like Depp’s, contract disputes, business-related torts and employment claims. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
Vasquez was named one of Best Lawyer magazine’s “One to Watch” attorneys in 2021. Brendan Smialowski/AP/Shutterstock
Vasquez graduated from the University of Southern California in 2006 before starting at Southwestern Law School one year later. Steve Helber/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
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