UFC bantamweight Raquel Pennington has been dragged into Johnny Depp's ongoing court case with Amber Heard - because she has the same name as Ms Heard's neighbour.
The 58-year-old actor has sued his former partner Ms Heard over an article she wrote in which she claimed to be a victim of domestic violence. Mr Depp has denied any abuse whilst Ms Heard has countersued him for £76million in return.
And UFC fighter Pennington, who is nicknamed 'Rocky', has been inadvertently included in the case after a friend of Heard's, Raquel Rose Pennington, was named by Dr Shannon Curry.
Ms Pennington is a longtime friend and ex-neighbour of Ms Heard. Her name cropped up after Dr Curry appeared in court to testify having treated Ms Heard in 2021. Dr Curry diagnosed her with borderline personality disorder and histrionic personality disorder.
She told the court how these disorders can explain why someone can unexpectedly lash out, which in this case allegedly caused Ms Heard to lash out at her friend Ms Pennington. Some of the characteristics of Dr Curry identified in Ms Heard included "a lot of rage; a lot of inner anger and blame which can explode out at times".
This led to many people assuming the Ms Pennington in question was UFC women's bantamweight Raquel Pennington, who has the same forename and surname as Ms Heard's friend. 'Rocky' addressed the confusion by joking she isn't the only Raquel Pennington in the world.
“I love how I’m getting drug into this Johnny Depp trial and I don't know any of those people…get your facts together people. There are more Raquel Penningtons in the world," she wrote on Twitter.
Top bantamweight fighter Pennington, who has nothing to do with Ms Heard, was in action at UFC 273 earlier this month when she outpointed Aspen Ladd. The former title challenger is unbeaten in her last four fights and is ranked at No.4 at 135lb.
Pennington is engaged to fellow UFC fighter Tecia Torres, who competes in the strawweight division. Torres also competed on the same card as Pennington earlier this month, but lost a split decision to Mackenzie Dern.
