Rebel Wilson fights appeal of her $3.6m defamation win

Comedienne Rebel Wilson returned to court on Wednesday to fight a magazine publisher’s appeal of an order to pay the Australian actor a record 4.6 million Australian dollars ($3.6 million; ₹23.4 crore).

The payout was in damages for defamation through articles that claimed Wilson had lied about her age, the origin of her first name, and her upbringing in Sydney.

The 38-year-old comic actor, best known for her work in Pitch Perfect (three movies) and Bridesmaids (2011), sat with her mother, Sue Bownds, at the packed Victorian Supreme Court of Appeal in Melbourne, but did not testify.

Bauer Media, which publishes Australian magazines Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly, NW and OK, argued that the largest defamation payout in Australia’s legal history — awarded against the German company last September — was “manifestly excessive”.

Bauer’s lawyer, Michael Wheelahan, said that the publisher would not appeal the defamation verdict. But Bauer is challenging the finding that Wilson should be compensated for film roles, including Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3, which she testified she had lost following the 2015 articles.

Wheelahan argued that there was no evidence that the articles had any influence. He said that Hollywood agent Peter Principato, an industry person “on the grapevine,” had not heard of the articles at the time. Speaking outside the court, Wilson said that agents had been well aware of her case. Bauer “maliciously defamed me and I’m here to hold them accountable for that,” she said. The hearing continued on Thursday.

[The publisher] maliciously defamed me and I’m here to hold them accountable for that. REBEL WILSON ACTOR

PHOTO: MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS Comedienne Rebel Wilson had won the case against a magazine publisher, whose articles claimed that she lied about her age and other details of her life