'Truth teller' Rebel Wilson vindicated after feud with co-star

<p>After a blistering dispute that spanned continents and years, actor Rebel Wilson has been found not to have defamed her co-star in a series of social media posts.</p> <p>The Pitch Perfect star was sued by Australian actor Charlotte MacInnes, who played the lead role in Wilson's directorial debut film The Deb.</p> <p>MacInnes claimed Wilson defamed her in a series of social media posts that implied she was a liar and a sellout who walked back a sexual harassment complaint to further her career.</p> <p>The posts alleged the young actor confided in Wilson – and later recanted – that she felt uncomfortable when the film's co-producer Amanda Ghost asked to have a shower and a bath together.</p> <p>MacInnes denied making or retracting a complaint, insisting she had not been uncomfortable when the pair shared a bath in their swimwear after Ms Ghost suffered a medical episode in September 2023.</p> <p>Two months after the conclusion of the hotly contested court fight in the Federal Court, Justice Elizabeth Raper found in favour of Wilson.</p> <p>"MacInnes has failed to establish that the publications have caused or were likely to cause serious harm," she said on Wednesday.</p> <p>MacInnes' barrister Sue Chrysanthou SC accused Wilson of a "complete revision of history" littered with dishonesty during her emphatic closing address in May.</p> <p>"She is a fantastical liar who has made up terrible, terrible allegations about multiple people and her own witnesses have discredited her," she said.</p> <p>"We say Ms Wilson cannot be believed on anything she has said."</p> <p>But Wilson repeatedly denied accusations she fabricated the complaint or raised it for leverage during disputes with her co-producers over the film's budget and writing credit.</p> <p>"I am known as a truth-teller," she declared during the hearing.</p> <p>That was what she had been doing when she posted the stories to her 11 million followers, the Bridesmaids star said.</p> <p>"I don't classify it as an attack, I classify it as telling the truth," she told the court.</p> <p>Her barrister Dauid Sibtain SC said his client had "no motive to lie" about something that would endanger her film by driving a wedge between her lead actor and a producer.</p> <p>Instead, he accused MacInnes of dishonestly withdrawing the complaint about Ghost to ensure her relationship with the producer continued to be fruitful.</p> <p>MacInnes had received a lead role in a stage production and a six-figure record deal that were linked to Ghost, he argued, and she wanted to ensure she continued to rise.</p> <p>"Ms MacInnes is someone who gave false evidence under oath," he said.</p> <p>"[She] has suffered no harm, let alone serious harm."</p> <p>The young actor sought aggravated damages for the harm allegedly wrought by the posts, including anxiety, a period without work.</p>