Australian director and actor Rebel Wilson has won the defamation case brought against her by Charlotte MacInnes, who starred in Wilson’s directing debut The Deb.
MacInnes claimed Wilson harmed her reputation with social media posts, which accused MacInnes of retracting a sexual harassment complaint against a film producer to further her career.
Wilson said that MacInnes confided in her that she felt uncomfortable after sharing a bath, whilst wearing swimwear, with the film’s co-producer Amanda Ghost at a Bondi beach apartment in 2023.
Wilson said MacInnes later retracted the allegation, saying on Instagram in 2024: “The fact that this girl has been employed now by this ‘producer’ in the lead role of a production called GATSBY … and given a record label — should be all the proof you need as to why she has now changed her story.”
Following the conclusion of the case in a Sydney court, Justice Elizabeth Raper found in favour of Wilson, saying on Wednesday (July 22): “MacInnes has failed to establish that the publications have caused or were likely to cause serious harm.”
MacInnes’ legal team said they would lodge an appeal.
Following the ruling, Wilson said on Instagram that the case ”taught me a lot… It has tested me, but it has also reinforced something I’ve always believed. I want to live my life standing up for what I believe is right, while continuing to create work that brings people joy.”
’The Deb’ legal problems
Beleaguered comedy The Deb, in which Wilson co-starred, shot in Australia in 2023 and is produced by Ghost, Len Blavatnik and Gregor Cameron of UK company Unigram and sister company AI Film, in partnership with Rebel Wilson’s Camp Sugar Productions and Australian producer Bunya Productions. The comedy premiered at Toronto in 2024 and was eventually released in Australia and New Zealand in April 2026.
Wilson is involved in a separate dispute with producers Ghost, Cameron and executive producer Vince Holden. The producers brought a separate defamation case against Wilson in California after she accused them of embezzling funds, sexually assaulting MacInnes and obstructing the film’s release.
A further defamation proceeding was filed at the Supreme Court of New South Wales as part of a commercial dispute between Wilson and the UK producers of The Deb, AI Films.
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