Rebel‘s new legal battle

HOLLYWOOD star Rebel Wilson was last year awarded $4.5 million in the highest defamation payout in Australian history, but is now fighting to have most of her costs of more than $1.4m repaid by Bauer Media.

It was revealed in the Supreme Court of Victoria yesterday that Wilson spent close to $1.5 million over the 22-day trial, including her barrister Matthew Collins’ fees of $9900 a day, including GST.

The Pitch Perfect star now wants the majority of her costs repaid by Bauer, which defamed her in a series of magazine articles. It is expected she will have at least 80 per cent of those costs – or $1.123 million – repaid, but Wilson’s legal team is arguing she should get at least $1.3 million back.