Actress Rebel Wilson Wins Defamation Lawsuit Against Australia's Bauer Media Group
On courthouse steps, Wilson decries "series of grubby and completely false articles"
At issue were eight articles in all, published during 2015 by Australian outlets Woman’s Day, Women’s Weekly, OK magazine and New Weekly. The pieces accused actress Rebel Wilson of lying about her real name, age, background and professional life story.
From a report by the Australian Broadcasting Network:
Wilson returned to Melbourne from Los Angeles to give evidence at the three-week trial in which she made jokes, rapped an Academy Award acceptance speech she claims to have hallucinated years earlier and broke down in tears several times.
Outside the court, Wilson said it had been a long, hard fight but she felt she had to take a stand.
Victorian Supreme Court Judge John Dixon must now determine financial damages. But Wilson was clear her actions were not about monetary compensation. It was simply, said the 37-year-old Sydney native, whose film credits include Bridesmaids and the Pitch Perfect series, about “clearing her name.” Wilson said the articles led her to lose work on the films Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3.
An interesting journalistic side note is that the first article in the dandelion chain, by Woman’s Day, was written without any attempt to solicit comment from the actress. After paying a source $2,000 AU for the salacious details, the publication chose to forego giving the target a chance to respond.
