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Hollywood star Rebel Wilson was described as “f—ing nuts” in a text exchange between members of a crisis PR firm she is accused of hiring to launch a smear campaign against a film producer, the Federal Court has heard.
Charlotte MacInnes, the young star of Wilson’s directorial debut, Australian musical film The Deb, is suing Wilson for defamation over a series of social media posts. The trial, slated to run for nine days, started in the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday.
As part of the case, lawyers for MacInnes have accused Wilson of enlisting American publicist Melissa Nathan of The Agency Group PR to launch a smear campaign against a producer of the film, Amanda Ghost, that included websites containing false and malicious allegations.
In an apparent reference to MacInnes, the websites claimed an unnamed actor had been rewarded “for remaining silent about the abuse she suffered at Ghost’s hands”.
MacInnes has claimed in her lawsuit that a similar allegation by Wilson on social media is false and defamatory.
Wilson has denied she was behind the alleged smear campaign.
The court heard on Tuesday that texts between the agency’s staff referred to Wilson as “f—ing nuts”.
‘Rebel wants … one of those sites’
The allegations on the smear websites included branding Ghost “the Indian Ghislaine Maxwell” who was “procuring young women for the pleasure of the extremely wealthy”.
According to documents filed by MacInnes’ lawyers in court, in August 2024 Nathan texted Katie Case, who worked at the PR agency at the time, and said: “Rebel wants a one [sic] of those sites.”
“It can be really really harsh … making her a madam basically lol,” Nathan said.
“Oh my god lol ok this one will be fun,” Case replied.
Case gave evidence remotely on Tuesday in the Federal Court via audiovisual link from New York.
She said she was given a document setting out what would be published on the website. Metadata that was examined later showed the document had been created under the name of Wilson’s production company, Camp Sugar.
But Case agreed with Wilson’s barrister, Dauid Sibtain, SC, that someone else could have written the document and named Camp Sugar as the author. Case said she had never met or spoken to Wilson.
Sibtain described the websites as “a distraction”.
The posts
At the centre of the costly court battle is a series of four Instagram stories posted by Wilson between September 2024 and May last year.
Wilson alleged in one of the stories that MacInnes made “a complaint to me as director” in 2023 that Ghost “made her feel uncomfortable” during an incident in Bondi.
At the time of the alleged complaint, MacInnes was staying with Ghost at a rented Bondi penthouse apartment. Pia Ashcroft, then an assistant to Ghost, was also staying there. Other members of the cast and crew had accommodation in Zetland.
Wilson alleged in the posts that MacInnes later “changed her story” about the incident. She implied the young actor recanted the complaint in return for further career opportunities with Ghost.
Lawyers for MacInnes say in court documents that their client “did not make ‘a complaint’ to Wilson … as alleged” in the posts. They say Wilson defamed MacInnes by suggesting the rising star lied and changed her story to advance her career.
The Bondi incident
Barrister Sue Chrysanthou, SC, acting for MacInnes, said in her opening address to the court on Monday that the Bondi incident on September 5, 2023, was a response to a medical episode.
Chrysanthou said Wilson “was not a whistleblower … seeking to protect a young actress” and had only claimed when it “suited” her that MacInnes was “a victim”.
Ghost was suffering from a condition known as cold urticaria after swimming at Bondi Beach with MacInnes, Chrysanthou said, and “she broke out in red welts and was shaking uncontrollably”.
MacInnes helped Ghost back to the apartment, Chrysanthou said, and the producer got into the shower in her swimmers while MacInnes, who was also cold, got into the bath in her swimmers.
“Ms Ghost, still not warm enough, got into the bath, and it was an oversized bath. Ms MacInnes and Ms Ghost were not even touching at all. They both were wearing their swimmers the entire time.
“Pia Ashcroft made hot drinks and the women sat around drinking them.”
Chrysanthou said texts between Ghost and MacInnes that night corroborated this account.
Ghost sent MacInnes an article about cold urticaria and MacInnes responded that this was “wild” and “exactly what happened”.
Wilson accused of ‘fabrication’
Wilson alleges MacInnes told her the next day that “Amanda asked me to have a bath and a shower with her and it made me feel uncomfortable.”
Chrysanthou said MacInnes “says, and has always said, that is not true. It is a lie. No such conversation occurred. It is a fabrication by Ms Wilson.”
There was “no dispute” that on September 7, the day after the Bondi incident, “Ms Wilson informed Ms Ghost of the so-called complaint”, Chrysanthou said.
But MacInnes’ lawyers say Wilson texted Ghost later that day: “Charlotte says all good. She just meant ‘it was a bizarre situation’ not that she personally felt uncomfortable x.”
Chrysanthou alleged Wilson raised the “non-existent allegation that had been put to bed” again in October 2023 “as leverage” in a commercial dispute about the film.
Wilson’s defence
Sibtain, acting for Wilson, said on Monday that this was “not a case about whether Ms MacInnes was or was not the subject of sexual harassment or other inappropriate conduct”.
He said the central issue was “whether Ms MacInnes reported to Ms Wilson that she’d been asked by Ms Ghost to … bathe with her and whether she said it made her feel uncomfortable, and whether she later changed her story by denying that she’d made such a complaint”.
“Our case is that that is true: she changed her story,” he said.
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