\u201cF**king nuts.\u201d \u201cBully.\u201d \u201cVery difficult to be around.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is how Australian actor Rebel Wilson has been described during the first week of her blockbuster defamation trial brought by Charlotte MacInnes, the star of the A-lister\u2019s directorial debut, The Deb. <\/p>\n
The film has only recently made it to cinemas as Ms Wilson battles two sets of Australian legal proceedings as well as a third in the US over allegations she slashed the reputation of Ms MacInnes and tried to block the release of her own film.<\/p>\n
The rising star is suing Ms Wilson over a series of social media posts she alleges paints her as a \u201cliar\u201d and a \u201cwhore\u201d, and which she alleges implies that she walked back a sexual harassment complaint against one of the film\u2019s producers, Amanda Ghost.<\/p>\n
Ms Wilson claims the younger actor told her she felt uncomfortable following a bath she shared with Ms Ghost in the producer\u2019s Bondi penthouse in September 2023 after Ms Ghost allegedly suffered a medical episode during a sunset swim at Bondi Beach.<\/p>\n
The Hollywood star has alleged Ms MacInnes later withdrew the complaint to score a lucrative record deal and a role in another of Ms Ghost\u2019s productions, taking to Instagram to air the claims in a series of posts described by Ms MacInnes\u2019 barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, as \u201cslagging off\u201d the young actor.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is how this bully, apparently this saviour of women \u2026 responds,\u201d Ms Chrysanthou said of one of the posts as Ms Wilson sat in court.<\/p>\n
Ms MacInnes denies ever making a complaint and told the court she \u201cnever\u201d said the bath made her feel uncomfortable.<\/p>\n
Her co-star, Ms Wilson, travelled from the US to be in the Federal Court in Sydney for the first day of the star-studded trial on Monday. <\/p>\n
The Hollywood actor was all smiles as she thanked those who had gone to see The Deb before she entered the building.<\/p>\n
Inside, she was at times spotted chuckling and scoffing as details of the case were laid out on Monday, but was absent from the room during the remainder of the week.<\/p>\n
Ms Wilson was on Tuesday described as \u201cf**king nuts\u201d<\/a> in text messages read in court from the crisis PR firm she is accused of hiring and ordering to create \u201ctake down\u201d websites about Ms Ghost, with one of the sites posting unfounded allegations that the producer was the \u201cIndian Ghislaine Maxwell\u201d. <\/p>\n The trial was told how Ms MacInnes, who had once \u201clooked up\u201d to Ms Wilson, felt her dreams of success were coming true as she was whisked around on a billionaire\u2019s superyacht and private jet after being cast in the film.<\/p>\n But her dreams were soon traded for \u201cnightmares\u201din the wake of the Bridesmaids star\u2019s social media posts, with Ms MacInnes writing of how she cried \u201cevery day for weeks\u201d at one stage in her affidavits released by the court on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cI was also angry that Rebel claims to be someone who stands up for women and young Australian talent but then was so maliciously and unfairly persisting with a narrative that painted me as a liar, prostitute, sell out, and whore,\u201d Ms MacInnes wrote in her affidavits. <\/p>\n \u201cI felt as though she was ripping me apart and showing it off to the world.\u201d<\/p>\n The rising star also claims Ms Wilson hacked into her Snapchat account<\/a> and sent a nude photograph of her to her entire contact list, including her family and strangers, Ms MacInnes alleges in her affidavit released by the Federal Court on Friday.<\/p>\n Her boyfriend, Carlo Boumouglbay, claimed the young woman feared for her safety and felt Ms Wilson was \u201cmonitoring her at all times\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cRebel\u2019s posts were really getting to her and breaking her down,\u201d Mr Boumouglbay wrote in his affidavits tendered to the court.<\/p>\n