Geoffrey Rush wins £1.5m over false claims of sexual harassment
OSCAR-winning actor geoffrey Rush has been awarded more than £1.5 million damages after being wrongly accused of sexually harassing an actress.
The King’s Speech star sued a newspaper in Australia for defamation over two front-page stories, which he claimed portrayed him as a pervert and sexual predator.
The award against Sydney’s Daily Telegraph is Australia’s largestever defamation payout.
A judge ruled that Rupert Murdoch’s nationwide news and journalist Jonathan Moran had been reckless and not managed to prove the allegations, published in november 2017, were true.
Eryn Jean norvill, 34, who starred opposite Rush in a stage production of King Lear, told a defamation trial that the 67-yearold actor had stroked the side of her right breast down to her hip, leaving her ‘frightened’, during a preview performance in 2015.
She also alleged Rush followed her into a bathroom and sent her an inappropriate text message. Miss norvill was not named in the Telegraph’s stories, did not cooperate with the newspaper before the articles were published and only agreed to testify at the defamation trial on the newspaper’s behalf at a late stage.
But Judge Michael wigney dismissed the actress’s version of events, saying he believed Rush ‘never intentionally touched Miss norvill’s breast’ and that the allegation was ‘somewhat implausible and improbable’.
He awarded Rush £462,000 in damages, plus £22,000 in interest, when he made his initial ruling last month, but yesterday ordered that he receive a further £1 million in special damages for past and future loss of earnings. Rush’s lawyers had been seeking £11 million for lost earnings over ten years.
Judge wigney said the reports were ‘a recklessly irresponsible piece of sensationalist journalism of the worst kind’, estimating that Rush’s earnings would be damaged for up to two years, despite the ‘vindication of his reputation’.
The publisher and journalist are appealing against the verdict.
Outside court, Rush said he was pleased by the decision, but added: ‘There are no winners in this case, it has been extremely distressing for everyone involved.’ The story, which was heralded as a ‘ world exclusive’ by the Telegraph and published under the headline ‘ King Leer’, reported that the Sydney Theatre Company had received an anonymous complaint about Rush’s conduct, but provided no further details.
Follow-up articles were published the next day, which the judge said ‘doubled down’ on the story. Rush alleged the articles were compiled hastily because the Telegraph, which is not connected to Britain’s Daily Telegraph, wanted an Australian angle on the #MeToo scandal sweeping Hollywood.
Rush won the best actor Oscar in 1996 for his portrayal of pianist David Helfgott in Shine.