Rebel Wilson’s Defamation Case Ignited by Yacht Incident and Tensions with Producer

New claims have emerged amid Rebel Wilson’s legal battle involving her directorial debut, The Deb.

The film is a musical about a country town debutante ball and stars emerging actor Charlotte MacInnes, who is suing Wilson for defamation over comments made on social media in July 2024.

The defamation case hit the Federal Court for the first time on Friday, a month after MacInnes lodged proceedings.

MacInnes is suing Wilson over a series of social media posts in which the rookie director said her lead actor had revealed she was subjected to sexual harassment by a female producer on the film.

Lawyers representing MacInnes argue that these posts suggest the young actor lied when she denied having made a complaint about one of the film’s producers, Amanda Ghost, who is accused of sexually harassing her, documents released by the court claim. 

The emerging actor has denied the claims, calling them a ‘fabricated narrative’ while adding that ‘false accusations undermine real victims’.

New documents released by the court have revealed Wilson had expressed being ‘very uneasy’ about MacInnes’ relationship with Ghost.

Wilson claimed that she and MacInnes attended an event on a yacht to promote the film on May 24, 2023, along with other cast members.

They were asked to sing songs written for the film on the yacht by Ghost, who allegedly asked MacInnes to return to the yacht ‘late in the evening’ after the event.

Wilson felt ‘uneasy’ about this, court documents claim.

It was also claimed that Ghost arranged for MacInnes to stay at her Bondi penthouse, which made Wilson ‘feel very uneasy again’.

During the hearing on Friday, Wilson’s high-profile defamation lawyer, Sue Chrysanthou SC, pushed for a quick resolution, citing ‘ongoing reputational damage’ to her client, who she said had been ‘unapologetically defamed’.

But Wilson would find it difficult to provide a sworn statement quickly without seeing the substance of the complaints against her, the Hollywood star’s lawyer said.

‘Her evidence is not simple and straightforward,’ Renée Enbom KC said.

‘It goes back to 2022 and it deals with numerous issues, not just the sexual harassment.’

Ms Chrysanthou pushed back against the delay, arguing Wilson must be ‘very familiar’ with the conversations she has repeated publicly.

‘People telling the truth don’t need to see documents in order to make a statement,’ she said.

‘We don’t understand why – when Ms Wilson has adamantly claimed for a year that she had these conversations – why she would be assisted by text messages to help her remember what happened. That’s concerning for us.’

Wilson was no busier than anyone else in court and had enough time to continue making statements about MacInnes to the media, Ms Chrysanthou said.

‘She is clearly not too busy,’ she said.

Ms Enbom said people giving evidence about events that occurred years ago ‘often need to be assisted by documents’.

There was also no evidence to show Wilson, who is working on another film on the other side of the world, had continued to speak about the emerging actress, her lawyer said.

Wilson was ordered to file an affidavit by December 10, with the matter set to return to court in February.

It is the third legal stoush to involve the embattled 2024 film directed by Wilson after production company AI Film accused the star of trying to sabotage its release.

The case, which has been lodged in the NSW Supreme Court, claims the Pitch Perfect actor made highly derogatory public comments to that end.

AI Film issued a statement after filing its lawsuit.

‘These proceedings are regrettable but essential to ensure The Deb’s timely release,’ the company said.

‘It’s a joyous, fun film, and we are sure that audiences are going to love it.’

The comments are also the focus of a defamation suit lodged against Wilson in the Superior Court of California by the film’s producers, Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and Vince Holden.

The legal action alleges Wilson engaged in conduct calculated to damage the reputations of her co-producers and wanted credit for work she did not do.

In July, Wilson called her co-producers’ NSW Supreme Court action an act of ‘spiteful toxic behaviour’ in a lengthy Instagram post.

‘Apparently I’m being sued in Australia? It makes no sense,’ she began.

‘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 went on to say 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.’

Last month, MacInnes sent Wilson a concerns notice threatening defamation action in either the NSW or Western Australian Supreme Court.

In documents filed to the Los Angeles Superior Court, MacInnes claimed she informed Wilson she was never sexually harassed by Ghost.

‘I was deeply disturbed by this behaviour by Wilson, who was the director of the film and in a position of authority over me,’ MacInnes told the US court.

Daily Mail had put MacInnes’s claims about Wilson’s behaviour to her US management, but they did not respond at the time.