‘Nightmare situation’: Rebel Wilson denies fabricating harassment complaint

Rebel Wilson has told a court it was an “absolute nightmare situation” for a sexual harassment complaint to be made by a lead actor against a producer in her directorial debut as she denied concocting the story to create division between the pair.

Wilson, 46, is at the centre of a welter of litigation, including a US lawsuit, brought against her by her international co-producers on The Deb, an Australian musical film released earlier this month.

She is also being sued for defamation in the Federal Court by a lead actor in the film, Charlotte MacInnes, 27, over a series of comments on Instagram.

Wilson returned to the witness box on Wednesday for a second day of cross-examination by MacInnes’ barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC.

MacInnes alleges Wilson defamed her by suggesting she was a “sellout” and a liar who recanted a sexual harassment complaint to Wilson about one of the film’s producers, Amanda Ghost, in return for further job opportunities with Ghost.

In Instagram stories between September 2024 and July last year, Wilson suggested MacInnes made “a complaint to me as director” that Ghost “asked her to have a bath and shower with her and it made her feel uncomfortable”.

She alleged MacInnes later “changed her story” to advance her career.

Neither MacInnes nor Ghost was named in the initial story, but it contained identifying information including an image of MacInnes.

MacInnes told the court last week that she “never made a complaint” to Wilson and “didn’t walk back anything”.

‘Absolute nightmare situation’

Wilson rejected as “nonsense” a suggestion by Chrysanthou on Wednesday that she made up the complaint to create division between Ghost and MacInnes. This was an “absolute nightmare situation” for her as a first-time director, she said.

“It’s nonsensical. I’d worked for years to get this project up,” Wilson said. “It would not at all be in my interest to make up a sexual harassment complaint between these two very important people.”

Wilson denied on Tuesday that she had “bullied and harassed” MacInnes “publicly and privately”.

Wilson denies text ‘over the top’

On Wednesday, Wilson was shown text messages between her and MacInnes at the beginning of their working relationship in May 2023.

The court heard Wilson secured a ticket for MacInnes to watch a production on London’s West End with her and some cast mates from The Deb, but MacInnes did not reply at the time to messages. MacInnes texted later that she “ended up getting dinner with Amanda and only just got wifi” and offered “huge apologies”.

Wilson responded: “Hi Charlotte. I appreciate the apology. In the future, it is terribly rude to say you wanted a ticket to a show and then you don’t reply or follow up. It’s not a great start to our working relationship.”

Chrysanthou put to Wilson on Wednesday that the text was a “form of bullying … of this young actress” who was her junior on the film.

Wilson said she did not regard “one text message as bullying”, and she did not “see how inviting someone who loves musical theatre to a musical is bullying”.

“It was chastisement of a person over which you held power that was completely over the top,” Chrysanthou said. “No, I don’t agree,” Wilson said.

Wilson has also denied bullying and harassing Ghost and the film’s writer Hannah Reilly, who wrote the stage production of The Deb and developed the script for film.

The court has heard Wilson and Reilly had a falling out after Wilson sought a writing credit for the film.

The Australian Writers’ Guild found in favour of Reilly in 2024 in a binding arbitration, and she received sole credit for writing the screenplay. Wilson received an additional writing credit.

The bath incident

There is no dispute Ghost and MacInnes shared a bath on September 5, 2023, while wearing their swimming costumes.

The women say it was in response to a medical episode in which Ghost had a reaction to cold water after swimming at Bondi Beach. At the time, they were staying at a rented Bondi apartment during rehearsals for The Deb.

Wilson alleges MacInnes confided in her the following day that she had been uncomfortable, a claim MacInnes denies.

It is not disputed that Wilson called MacInnes on September 7, 2023, before texting Ghost: “Charlotte says all good. She just meant ‘it was a bizarre situation’ not that she felt personally uncomfortable x.”

Wilson agreed she had joked with Ghost later that month about re-casting MacInnes in the film, and messages tendered in court show the pair exchanged friendly texts.

The ‘snake’ texts

Wilson also agreed she may have referred to MacInnes later as a “troublemaker”, and that she suggested to Ghost that MacInnes leaked material to Deb writer Reilly. MacInnes has denied the allegation.

In a WhatsApp message to Ghost on September 17, 2023, Wilson claimed she had seen Reilly speaking to MacInnes and they were “fully bitching!!!”

“I felt like it was Charlotte talking about us and Hannah agreeing but I only came in at the end of it,” Wilson wrote.

“And then they shut up and looked so so guilty … F---ing snakes though!! I’m so over them.”

Ghost replied: “I wish we could replace the [snake emoji].” She told the court last week she believed she was referring to Reilly.

Wilson raised the alleged complaint about the bath incident again in October 2023. Chrysanthou claims she did so as “leverage” amid a commercial dispute with the film’s producers rather than to protect a young actor, an allegation Wilson denies.

“You used the allegation, which had long since been resolved, to get your way, didn’t you?” Chrysanthou said.

“It hadn’t been resolved. Things had calmed down, yes, but did I have a sense of uneasiness about what the truth was, what actually happened? Yes, I had an uneasiness,” Wilson said. “It was really sus [suspicious].”

The hearing continues.

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