Rebel: I’ll give it all away
REBEL Wilson has vowed to give away every cent of any payout from her defamation victory.
But she’ll get next to nothing if Bauer Media lawyers get their way.
The Hollywood actor’s epic defamation trial finished yesterday, five weeks after it began in the Victorian Supreme Court.
Justice John Dixon has indicated it will take him several weeks to assess any damages to be awarded to Wilson.
The 37-year-old has claimed more than $7 million after a jury found she was maliciously defamed by four Bauer publications.
Wilson has claimed $5.893 million in special damages and an extra $1.2 million in general damages.
But she took to Twitter to vow that she would not keep a single cent she awarded to her.
“Any $’s (sic) I receive will go to charity, scholarships or invested into the Aussie film industry to provide jobs,” she wrote.
“I take being a role model very seriously x.”
Wilson sued Bauer over a series of defamatory articles published in Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly, New Weekly and OK!
The jury found the articles unfairly painted her as a serial liar who had faked her way to a Hollywood career.
Making her damages submissions for Bauer yesterday, Georgina Schoff, QC, argued Wilson wasn’t entitled to a dol- lar of the $5.893 million in special damages she has claimed.
Ms Schoff said the claim was not only bad in law, but couldn’t be paid because Wilson had failed to prove she had suffered any real loss as a result of being defamed.
“The plaintiff is not entitled to special damages because she hasn’t proved that the publications were a cause of the alleged loss that she identifies,” Ms Schoff said.
“The evidence doesn’t establish on the balance of probabilities that the plaintiff has suffered actual financial loss.”
Wilson claimed she was sacked from two films — Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3 — and unable to land any more work due to the articles.
But Ms Schoff said there was no evidence before the court to support the claim.
Wilson, who has returned to Los Angeles after spending more than a month in Melbourne, repeatedly said she didn’t care about any payout.
“The reason why I’m here is not for damages, it’s to clear my name, obviously,” she said.