Rebel Wilsonis facing a defamation lawsuit in Australia, where actress Charlotte MacInnes alleged on Monday 20 April that thePitch Perfectstar and director ofThe Debdamaged her reputation through Instagram posts about an alleged sexual harassment incident involving the film's producer.

The court case stems from Wilson's public claims about what she says MacInnes told her during the making ofThe Deb, Wilson's 2024 musical comedy film. Wilson, 46, has alleged that MacInnes was sexually harassed in 2023 by producer Amanda Ghost after the pair took a bath together in Sydney, and that the young actress later withdrew from making a complaint because she believed Ghost could help her career. MacInnes rejects that characterisation and is now asking a court to rule that Wilson's account is defamatory.

After months of simmering tension aroundThe Deb, Wilson's much-discussed directorial debut, Wilson has claimed that MacInnes confided in her following a 2023 incident at an apartment in Sydney, which allegedly took place after they swam at Bondi Beach, according to material outlined in court and reported by Page Six.

Wilson's version, as relayed in legal filings, is stark. Wilson has alleged that MacInnes told her she had been asked by Ghost to shower and bathe with her and that the experience left her uncomfortable. Wilson has further claimed that MacInnes initially treated the episode as a complaint, then later shifted her position.

MacInnes' camp paints a very different picture. Her barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, told the court that Ghost had developed cold urticaria, a condition where exposure to cold can trigger itchy welts, after the ocean swim and needed to warm up quickly. To that end, Chrysanthou said, the two women bathed together in the apartment, but Ghost remained clothed while MacInnes kept on her bathing suit.

According to Chrysanthou, the interaction was not sexual, not coercive, and not something MacInnes regarded as harassment. The suggestion that MacInnes later traded away a complaint for professional favours, she argued, is not only wrong but reputationally toxic in an industry already riddled with power imbalances.

Rebel Wilson is facing a major defamation lawsuit from Australian actress Charlotte MacInnes over a series of social media posts, overshadowing her directorial debut.pic.twitter.com/mUE7jpPf43

The defamation lawsuit turns heavily on what Wilson then did with her understanding of the story. In court, Chrysanthou accused Wilson of 'slagging' MacInnes online and called the director a 'bully' over a series ofInstagram poststhat, she said, misrepresented her client's actions and motives.

According to MacInnes, Wilson wrote on Instagram that the actress had retreated from her harassment allegations because Ghost offered her a record deal and a role in a live show. Those claims, if accepted by audiences as true, would mark MacInnes not only as someone entangled in a murky bath-time scenario but also as an ambitious performer willing to reverse a serious allegation for career gain.

Chrysanthou told the court that Wilson did not act as a principled whistleblower protecting a vulnerable young actress. Instead, she argued, Wilson raised MacInnes' alleged complaint as 'leverage' in a separate dispute with producers over budgets and contracts forThe Deb. In that framing, MacInnes becomes collateral damage in a power struggle around the film, rather than the central figure in a safeguarding concern.

Source: International Business Times UK