Hollywood star Rebel Wilson has been awarded $4.5 million in damages after she was defamed by the publisher of Woman’s Day magazine.
On Wednesday morning in the Supreme Court of Victoria, Justice John Dixon said a substantial amount was required to “vindicate” Wilson after her reputation as an “actress of integrity was wrongly damaged”.
Wilson, who was seeking more than $7 million, has previously indicated she will donate the money to charity and to support young actors and the Australian film industry.
In June the 37-year-old won her three-week, high-profile defamation trial against Bauer Media, which published articles saying she lied about her real name, age and childhood.
A Victorian Supreme Court jury of six women deliberated for two days over their verdict, in which they were asked to consider 40 questions and eight magazine articles published in Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly, NW and OK magazine.
The jury found all eight articles defamed Wilson.
The Pitch Perfect star was defamed by the publisher when it accused her of lying.
The first article, by Woman’s Day journalist Shari Nementzik, quoted an anonymous paid source who claimed the star had added a touch of “fantasy” to stories about her life in order to “make it in Hollywood”.
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Among the claims in the articles were that Rebel was not her real name and that she’d lied to journalists about being six years younger than she was.
The articles also claimed Wilson lied about being related to Walt Disney and that she’d grown up in a “bogan” and “ghetto” area of Sydney.
During the trial, the actor, who made her name in Australian productions like Fat Pizza and the Bogan Monologues, said after the articles were published in May 2015, she struggled to get lead roles despite starring in the hugely successful Pitch Perfect movie.
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Top Comments
Good, maybe it will make these trash rags think twice about the lies they print - but I won't hold my breath.