‘Absolute nonsense’: Rebel Wilson denies she bullied co-stars as she takes stand in defamation trial
Rebel Wilson has denied she mistreated multiple female colleagues during the filming of the movie The Deb and instead touted her 25-year movie career as a champion of women.
Movie star Rebel Wilson has denied she mistreated multiple female colleagues during the production of The Deb movie in 2023 and instead styled herself as a woman’s champion, at the Federal Court on Monday.
Wilson is being sued by West Australian actress, Charlotte MacInnes, 26, for a series of Instagram posts the Pitch Perfect star made to her 11 million followers for 24 hours in 2024.
MacInnes claims the posts were defamatory in suggesting she made a complaint about being sexually harassed during the filming of the movie The Deb, before retracting the complaint to further her emerging career as a singer and actor.
Sign up to The Nightly's newsletters.
Get the first look at the digital newspaper, curated daily stories and breaking headlines delivered to your inbox.
By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Rather than championing, Ms MacInnes I want to suggest you that you bullied and harassed her privately and publicly?” said Sue Chrysanthou, SC, for MacInnes on Monday.
“That’s absolute nonsense,” replied Wilson.
“You bullied and harassed [movie co-producer Amanda] Ghost privately and publicly didn’t you?” said Chrysanthou.
“Absolute nonsense,” replied Wilson.
“And you bullied and harassed [The Deb co-writer] Hannah Reilly privately and publicly didn’t you?” said Chrysanthou.
“No as I said before, I wasn’t a fan of Hannah Reilly but I never publicly bullied or harassed her,” replied Wilson.
“Well you hated Hannah Riley didn’t you?” said Chyrsanthou. “Do you remember sending a text message effectively saying she should go f_ck herself?”
“No,” replied Ms Wilson.
During the production of The Deb movie Wilson admitted she got into dispute with Reilly about writing credits for it. Reilly wrote the original musical comedy The Deb that was first played at Sydney’s Walsh Bay Rebel Theatre in 2022.
Wilson defends action
Wilson is defending the court action and says McInnes verbally complained to her on September 6, 2023, about a bath she shared at a luxury Bondi Beach apartment with the movie’s co-producer Amanda Ghost.
MacInnes says the Instagram allegations about the September 5, 2023, bath complaint were fabricated and Wilson used them as leverage after a feud developed over finances with Ghost as The Deb movie’s co-producer.
Wilson accepts in her defence that she later uploaded a series of Instagram posts referencing a complaint which were available to her 11 million followers, but denies that two of the posts were about MacInnes.
The Deb movie is a musical comedy that was released in April 2026 in Australian cinemas. It’s the directorial debut of Wilson, who co-stars in it alongside MacInnes.
MacInnes is seeking aggravated damages for the lowering of her reputation based on Wilson’s Instagram posts, as well as a court order preventing Wilson from repeating the allegedly defamatory claims online.
Last week the court heard Wilson’s wife Ramona Agruma had posted an Instagram story of Dory the forgetful fish in the movie Finding Nemo on April 24. Ms MacInnes complained to the court she thought the post was a deliberate attempt to criticise her as an unreliable witness with a poor memory.
Earlier on Monday, the court heard Agruma had decided not to attend.
