A controversial incident involving a shared bath between a rising star and a veteran female producer at a Bondi penthouse has sparked a high-stakes lawsuit against actress Rebel Wilson, as revealed in court proceedings.
Rebel Wilson, known for her role in Pitch Perfect, was in high spirits as she attended the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday. She is facing a defamation case brought by Charlotte MacInnes, the main actress in the musical comedy The Deb, which Wilson directed.
The legal action was initiated by MacInnes in September following a series of Instagram posts by Wilson. In these posts, Wilson accused MacInnes of fabricating complaints about unwanted sexual advances from producer Amanda Ghost and subsequently lying about them to secure a record contract.
MacInnes firmly refutes the allegations, denying any occurrence of the alleged assault, any complaints made to Wilson, or any deceitful actions to obtain a lead role and a recording deal.
During the court session on Monday, MacInnes’ attorney, Sue Chrysanthou SC, argued that Wilson had not submitted evidence she was required to provide. Additionally, some of the text messages presented to the court were partially redacted, revealing only a single line of text.
In her opening remarks, Ms. Chrysanthou recounted an incident on September 5, 2023, involving MacInnes and Ghost at Bondi Beach. This outing took a dire turn when Ghost experienced a medical emergency, complicating the narrative further.
She said Ghost had a flare up of a rare condition called cold urticaria, which causes hives or swelling after exposure to cold air or water, so MacInnes took her back to their rented Bondi penthouse and ran a hot bath.
Ms Chrysanthou said MacInnes was also cold and jumped in the bath with Ghost – their skin didn’t touch, they were both were wearing swimming costumes at the time, and they sat with another woman afterwards and drank tea and hot chocolate.
Rebel Wilson is pictured arriving at the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday
Rebel Wilson is being sued by her The Deb co-star in the Federal Court
Charlotte MacInnes is pictured arriving at the Federal Court in Sydney on Monday
She then referenced texts from Ghost to MacInnes later on the day of the swim, asking what she wanted from a restaurant.
MacInnes replied: ‘Chickpea dahl curry please’.
She then sent a selfie of the pair smiling together on the beach, before Ghost’s medical episode. She captioned the photo: ‘Beginning of the end’.
Ghost laughed and sent a link about cold urticaria.
Upon receiving the link, MacInnes wrote: ‘Oh whoa.’
Ghost wrote: ‘I KNOW I’M A FREAK.’
Ms Chrysanthou said the texts showed MacInnes had no issue with Ghost and was sending selfies of them together.
She then referenced further texts between Wilson and Ghost, sent on September 7 – two days after the beach swim – that allegedly show MacInnes did not make a sexual assault complaint against Ghost.
‘Charlotte says it’s all good, she just said it was a bizarre situation so all good there,’ Wilson told Ghost via text message.
Ghost replied: ‘Of thank f**k for that!! OMG that’s hilarious, I nearly died.’
Rebel Wilson is pictured with her legal team, including her barrister Dauid Sibtain SC (right)
Rebel Wilson is pcitured talking to reporters outside court on Monday
Referring to MacInnes, Wilson said: ‘She instantly was like “oh no, zero issues at all” but she said she was happy I called to clarify.’
Ms Chrysanthou then pointed the court to a friendly text Wilson sent to Ghost weeks after the beach trip, saying ‘we miss you here in Australia already!!’
In a card to Ghost, Wilson then wrote: ‘To dearest Amanda, I cannot express to yo how grateful I am for this incredible opportunity to direct this, my dream job.
‘I promise you, I will give this my absolute ALL … Thank you for bringing all your amazing talents to The Deb – you’re incredible!’
Ms Chrysanthou said Wilson did not speak to Ghost as though she was an alleged perpetrator of sexual harassment, but instead allegedly treated MacInnes ‘as a liar’.
‘Ms Wilson was not a whistleblower seeking to protect a young actress,’ she told the court.
‘Ms Wilson ran to the alleged perpetrator to say, and she didn’t actually say this, but she meant “you’re not going to believe what this little liar said about you”.’
Ms Chrysanthou said it was a ‘very strange attitude’ to have against a woman who Wilson claimed was sexually harassed.
Wilson’s lawyer Dauid Sibtain SC told the court there was no dispute Ghost and MacInnes bathed together.
Rebel Wilson (pictured) starred in and co-produced musical comedy, The Deb
Charlotte MacInnes (pictured) plays the lead role in The Deb, directed by Rebel Wilson
He told the court the dispute was whether MacInnes felt uncomfortable bathing with Ghost, who was her boss and working as a senior producer working on The Deb at the time.
‘They were both wearing their bathing costumes, but Ms MacInnes might have felt some discomfort bathing with her boss,’ he said.
‘A boss bathing with their employee is not the best practice, even if Ms Ghost was recovering from a medical episode, but it’s a position a young employee might not feel comfortable in.’
Earlier, Ms Chrysanthou SC told the court that Wilson had failed to provide a series of text messages that she was ordered to produce, and redacted some evidence from the texts.
Ms Chrysanthou said said it was not for Wilson to decide whether to conceal evidence by redacting text messages.
‘We’re very concerned by the approach taken by Ms Wilson and her lawyers in relation to production we find ourselves in a position where Ms Wilson has not been produced documents,’ Ms Chrysanthou told the court.
Pictured: Rebel Wilson and Charlotte MacInnes (together, centre) at a party hosted by Wilson
‘It’s very difficult to see how her solicitors had those texts two weeks ago … and now don’t have them, and they don’t have the surrounding texts.’
In some instances, Ms Chrysanthou said, Wilson sent expired links from the file-sharing platform, WeTransfer.
Those links were originally meant for 60 Minutes, ahead of an interview Wilson did with Channel Nine journalist Tara Brown.
‘She must have the files connected to those links,’ Ms Chrysanthou said.
‘To provide us with expired links so 60 Minutes can access them is not compliance, and it beggars belief that Wilson does not recall or have a folder on her computer of the documents she provided to 60 Minutes by way of the link.
‘It was in November, it wasn’t something that happened two years ago, and the reason we know about the link is because it was referred to in the documents subpoenaed to channel 9.’
Wilson’s lawyer Mr Sibtain said they did respond to notices to produce evidence – there was nothing to produce in one category, and some documents had been identified in other categories.
Mr Sibtain told the court some details had been redacted and that Wilson would comply with an order to documents by lunchtime on Monday.
Pictured: An image posted by Wilson on Wednesday with two women in a sexual position on the floor. Wilson wrongly implied one of the women was MacInnes
According to MacInnes’ statement of claim, Wilson’s posts accused her of lying about sexual assault and blocking the film’s release, and portray her as selfishly prioritising her own career over the hundreds of cast and crew who worked on The Deb.
She claims Wilson’s social media posts damaged her professional reputation and created doubts about her trustworthiness before she played her first lead role in a film.
MacInnes is seeking aggravated damages for serious harm caused as well as a court order preventing Wilson from repeating the allegedly defamatory claims online.
The matter is one of three Wilson is embroiled in.
The Deb was a joint production between AI Film and Wilson’s company Camp Sugar, featuring Wilson both in the director’s chair and on-screen in a starring role.
Three of the film’s producers in the US and production company AI Film are seeking damages in the NSW Supreme Court.
That lawsuit claims Wilson made false and derogatory statements about the producers, including the accusations of engaging in inappropriate conduct towards MacInnes.
Wilson called her co-producers’ NSW Supreme Court action an act of ‘spiteful toxic behaviour’ in a lengthy Instagram post last year.
Charlotte MacInnes is represented by defamation barrister Sue Chrysanthou
‘Apparently I’m being sued in Australia?’ she began. ‘It makes no sense.
‘As the director, producer and co-star who nurtured a project called The Deb for five years from a three-page idea into a gorgeous feature film – I wish nothing more than to have this film released and have been working tirelessly behind the scenes to get this to happen.
‘To say otherwise is complete nonsense. I’m so proud of the film!
‘In my opinion this is continued bullying and harassment from UK financiers of the project Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron and Vince Holden.
‘They tried to prevent the film from premiering there (they lost) and now they’ve tried to stop the film being released because of a baseless US lawsuit and now a further Australian one.’
Wilson said it was ‘imperative the movie is released’ and added it was ‘sad’ to see the hard work of ‘so many Australians’ involved in the film go to waste.
‘Contractually, as financiers, they have the power to sell or release/distribute the film,’ she wrote. ‘They haven’t done so.
‘It’s been a year since the film has been completed and ready to go in cinemas. Instead, in my opinion they have continued this spiteful toxic behaviour.’
Wilson then revealed the first song in The Deb is called F*** My Life and released it for fans to hear ‘because if these f***wits aren’t going to release the movie I may as well’.
The Supreme Court matter, in which Wilson has filed a cross-claim, was listed for a directions hearing on April 10 – the day after the film’s release.
