Rebel Wilson: Australian actor awarded $359,000 after winning legal battle over movie The Deb

Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been awarded $359,000 in unpaid fees after a court found she did not sabotage the release of her own film, the box office flop The Deb.

Justice Elisabeth Peden in the NSW Supreme Court ordered The Deb’s financial backers AI Film Production and the producers to pay Ms Wilson and her company Camp Sugar Productions, which is part-owned by Wilson’s mother Sue Bownds.

It is the second victory for the Pitch Perfect star in the legal war that escalated in the wake of Ms Wilson’s explosive Instagram post to her 11 million followers in which she accused AI Film of trying to block The Deb’s release and producer Amanda Ghost of sexual misconduct towards the lead female actor on the movie.

AI Film Production sued Ms Wilson in a bid to recoup the money it lost on the $20m movie that only took about $335,000 at the box office when it was finally released in Australia in April 2026. It argued Ms Wilson breached contracts and undermined the film’s release by publishing false and derogatory statements that caused the company financial and reputational damage.

During the hearing, the actor was accused of undermining negotiations with potential distributors and threatening legal action against anyone showing the film in Australia, deliberately devaluing the film so that she could purchase it for practically nothing

The three producers, Amanda Ghost, her husband Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden, alleged Ms Wilson paid a US crisis PR film $110,000 to create untraceable websites that she then used to publish “disgusting allegations” about Ms Ghost.

Wilson and Camp Sugar launched a cross claim for money they say they were owed in production and other fees. They alleged Ms Ghost, Mr Cameron and Mr Holden’s involvement in the film was marked by “a troubling pattern of illicit egregious behaviour including theft, bullying and sexual misconduct”.

The film debuted at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2024, a few months after Ms Wilson dropped a dramatic post to her 11 million Instagram followers.

In the July 10, 2024 post, Ms Wilson alleged that the producers had acted inappropriately towards the lead actor Charlotte MacInnes and embezzled money from the project.

The producers launched defamation proceedings in the US, with Ms Wilson filing a countersuit after the film premiered at the TIFF. Those proceedings are ongoing.

In July this year, Ms Wilson was cleared of defaming Ms MacInnes in four social media posts from September 2024 to July 2025 by falsely suggesting The Deb star had walked back allegations she’d been sexually harassed by Ms Ghost in what became known as the “bathtub incident”.

The judge in that case found that Ms MacInnes had failed to establish the posts had caused serious harm. Ms MacInnes has indicated she will appeal that decision.

Much has been made in this case about the “bathtub incident”, with considerable evidence about just what took place in the bathroom of a Bondi Beach penthouse rented by Ms Ghost and what was said about it afterwards.

Ms Ghost and Ms MacInnes both gave evidence that Ms Ghost suffered a medical reaction to swimming on a cold September 5, 2023 day at Bondi, and when they returned to the apartment she was renting, she needed to warm up.

Ms MacInnes was in the bath and Ms Ghost got in too. They both testified there was nothing inappropriate about that, as they were both wearing their swimmers and it was in response to the severe reaction Ms Ghost was experiencing.

Ms Wilson, who did not give evidence during this hearing, claimed Ms MacInnes made a complaint to her about the incident but that she later retracted the complaint in order to mend her relationship with Ms Ghost and land future roles.

More to come