Rebel Wilson wins record damages in Australian libel case

Actress Rebel Wilson has been awarded Aus$4.5m (£2.7m), the biggest payout for defamation in Australian history, in what some commentators are calling a game-changing case.

Here’s what you need to know about it:

What happened?

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An Australian judge awarded the damages to Wilson after the Bridesmaids actress successfully argued that a series of magazine articles wrongly portrayed her as a serial liar, reports the BBC.

In June, a jury sided with her against Bauer Media, publisher of Woman’s Day, the Australian Women’s Weekly and other publications. The jurors decided that articles in its magazines had damaged Wilson’s Hollywood career.

Yesterday Justice John Dixon told the Supreme Court of Victoria that the defamation case was “unprecedented in this country” because of its international reach. He added that Wilson’s vindication as “an actress of integrity” could only be achieved by awarding the damages.

Wilson has said she would donate the money to “some great Australian charities” and the Australian film industry.

What did the defamatory articles say?

According to Buzzfeed, the articles claimed Wilson was a serial liar who had been untruthful about her real name, age and childhood in order to make it in Hollywood.

In May 2015, Woman’s Day magazine published an article titled “Just who is the REAL Rebel?” - the first of eight pieces about the star published over three days in Woman's Day, Women’s Weekly, OK! Magazine and New Weekly. Wilson said the stories implied that she had lied about contracting malaria, having a disadvantaged upbringing, and being related to Walt Disney.

Why did Wilson sue?

Earlier this year, The Guardian reported that the actress was suing Bauer after a journalist launched a “shakedown” against her.

Wilson had accused Australian journalist Elizabeth Wilson of being “total scum” in a tweet, and of harassing her elderly grandmother for a story. The actress posted a picture of the journalist, but later admitted that she had made a mistake and accused the wrong writer. (Two Elizabeth Wilsons had worked for the publisher.)

“It was a completely innocent mistake,” Wilson told the court, explaining that she had offered to meet face-to-face to apologise. But the journalist demanded $250,000. “I can only now describe that as a shakedown,” said Wilson.

The actress said the lawsuit against her prompted her to sue the company, which had caused her and her family deep distress.

Wilson claimed Bauer had carried out an “orchestrated, malicious takedown” that stole two years of her limited time in the Hollywood limelight and caused her “star meter” to drop.

What happened at the trial?

The trial and Wilson’s "courtroom antics" generated intense interest in Australia, says The Daily Telegraph. The actress joked and cried during her “bizarre court performance”.

On one occasion, the newspaper says, Wilson rapped an Oscar acceptance speech that she had imagined making in a hallucination while suffering malaria as a teenager.

Why does it matter?

Amanda Meade in The Guardian says the “eye-watering” payout will affect Bauer’s bottom line and is a “game changer for gossip magazines”.

The journalist warns that readers should expect fewer “shock pregnancies, divorces and affairs” on the covers of magazines, unless the celebrity has confirmed the veracity of the story first.

Media expert Mark Pearson said that the Rebel Wilson case sends a message to the “industry that trades on gossip” that there are legal avenues available to plaintiffs.