Actress wins defamation case after rap sways the jury
REBEL WILSON, the Australian actress, has won a defamation case over a series of magazine articles which she claimed threatened her career after a three-week trial in which she made jokes, rapped an Academy Award acceptance speech and occasionally broke down in tears.
Wilson, who appeared in the Pitch Perfect series and Bridesmaids, was suing over eight articles which accused her of inventing her life story to “make it in Hollywood”, including lying about her name, age and being related to Walt Disney.
The articles were published in Woman’s Day, Australian Women’s Weekly, NW and OK magazine in 2015. Wilson, 37, said the “nasty” articles resulted in her losing roles in films such as Kung Fu Panda 3 and Trolls.
The trial in Melbourne – and Wilson’s antics – generated intense interest in Australia. On one occasion the actress, who has never won an Academy Award, briefly rapped an Oscar acceptance speech which she had imagined making in a hallucination while suffering malaria as a teenager.
She also described sharing a home with Matt Lucas, the Little Britain star, and expressed her regret at missing out on appearing in a scene with Matt Damon. The hearing featured clips from Wilson’s films, an interview with David Letterman and a full episode of an Australian biography series, as well as home video footage.
Wilson insisted she never claimed she was six years younger than she is.
She explained that she was born Melanie Elizabeth Bownds but had changed her name to Rebel and taken her mother’s surname. And she said she was indeed related to Disney and that he was her great or great-great uncle by marriage.
In its defence, Bauer Media claimed that the articles were trivial, lighthearted, substantially true and had not affected Wilson’s career.
But a jury of six women deliberated for two days and found that the articles defamed Wilson. The amount of damages will be decided by the judge.
“There was a lot of mud slung at me, but obviously, I know my life story,” Wilson said. “I just look forward to rebuilding my career now.”