Geoffrey Rush wins defamation case over sexual harassment report

Geoffrey Rush has won his defamation case against an Australian newspaper publisher brought in the wake of a sexual harassment allegation against him.

The actor in 2017 was accused of sexual harassment by a former co-star in two Daily Telegraph articles. Her name was not used in the articles, but she was later identified as Eryn Jean Norvill. Rush denied her allegation and filed a defamation suit against the newspaper's parent company, Nationwide News, which is owned by Rupert Murdoch, in Australia shortly after. On Thursday, Justice Michael Wigney ruled in the actor's favor, awarding him $608,000 (850,000 Australian dollars) in initial damages, per The New York Times.

Rush could receive "millions more" in a follow-up hearing scheduled to take place in May, CNN reports, with the actor having argued he may have lost up to $3.5 million because of the allegation.

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Wigney called the reporting from the Daily Telegraph a "recklessly irresponsible piece of sensationalist journalism," Variety reports. The judge also said that Norvill, who testified as part of the trial, was "prone to exaggeration and embellishment" and that her story was "inconsistent." Norvill said after the judge's decision that she continues to stand by her allegation against Rush.

Since Norvill's allegation, Rush was also accused of sexual harassment by Orange is the New Black star Yael Stone in an article in The New York Times. The December 2018 report said that according to Stone, Rush "danced naked in front of her in their dressing room, used a mirror to watch her while she showered, and sent her occasionally erotic text messages." The actress said she had been worried about coming forward because of Australia's strict defamation laws. Rush denied this allegation, calling it "incorrect" and "taken completely out of context."