Johnny Depp’s surprising connection to Rihanna’s fashion line, explained

Following reports that Johnny Depp would be making a cameo during Rihanna’s upcoming fashion show, it raises the question of what business connections Depp and Rihanna may already have in place.

Depp’s forthcoming appearance during Amazon Prime Video’s fourth annual Savage x Fenty lingerie show was reported by People, though it has yet to be officially announced by the fashion house itself. Depp won’t be actually strolling the catwalk as a model himself, but will instead reportedly make a cameo as part of the show’s many celebrity cameo moments. The report went on to say Rihanna and her team specifically “invited” Depp to be part of the event. But is there a deeper business connection Rihanna and Depp share?

It turns out, the answer is unequivocally yes. As Complex explained, luxury conglomerate LVMH owns Rihanna’s beauty lines, Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin. They also owned the now-defunct Fenty fashion line, but continue to oversee Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie line. Who else is an employee of LVMH and happens to make them a lot of money? None other than Depp.

Depp is the spokesperson for Dior’s Sauvage, the world’s best-selling fragrance that is also owned by LVMH. Despite some serious allegations that Depp faced related to domestic abuse during a recent high-profile defamation trial with ex-wife Amber Heard, Dior has continued to stand by the actor. All the while, sales for LVMH’s perfume and cosmetics division have continued to balloon, as Business of Fashion reported.

Now that we know both Rihanna and Depp essentially work for the same company, does that make Depp’s appearance in Savage x Fenty more of a staff meeting amongst coworkers than a true celebrity cameo? It will be up to each individual viewer to decide.

Depp and Heard have been in the headlines a lot lately owing to jaw-dropping details about their tumultuous relationship becoming public over the course of multiple trials. The most recent Depp vs Heard trial of dueling defamation lawsuits that unfolded earlier this year saw a jury’s verdict that largely favored Depp and sided with his claim that Heard defamed him through domestic abuse allegations that weren’t true. However, during a previous trial in 2020 in the U.K. — in which Depp unsuccessfully sued the newspaper The Sun — a judge determined that 12 out of the 14 alleged incidents of assault were credible, The Guardian reported.