{"id":4654,"date":"2026-07-22T07:35:22","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T07:35:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4654"},"modified":"2026-07-22T07:35:22","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T07:35:22","slug":"rebel-wilson-wins-defamation-case-against-charlotte-macinnes-over-the-deb-bath-dispute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4654","title":{"rendered":"Rebel Wilson Wins Defamation Case Against Charlotte MacInnes Over \u2018The Deb\u2019 Bath Dispute"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div>\n<!-- do not apply CSS styles to this element! --><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\nRebel Wilson has prevailed in a defamation case brought by Charlotte MacInnes, the lead actor in Wilson\u2019s feature directorial debut, \u201cThe Deb.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4652\">Sony Pictures Mulls Deal for Hollywood\u2019s Cinerama Dome, With Alamo Drafthouse Possibly Operating<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tJustice Elizabeth Raper of the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney dismissed MacInnes\u2019 defamation and breach-of-confidence claims on Wednesday and ordered her to pay Wilson\u2019s legal costs.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMacInnes sued over four sets of Instagram posts published between September 2024 and July 2025. She argued that the posts portrayed her as having changed her account of an incident involving \u201cThe Deb\u201d producer Amanda Ghost in order to benefit her career.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe dispute centred on events on Sept. 5, 2023, when MacInnes and Ghost went swimming at Bondi Beach before returning to the Sydney apartment where they were staying.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tGhost said she suffered a severe reaction to the cold water. MacInnes and Ghost subsequently entered a bath together while still wearing their swimming costumes.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWilson maintained that MacInnes told her the following day that the situation had made her uncomfortable and later stepped back from that account. MacInnes denied making such a complaint and said she had not felt uncomfortable.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\u201cTo say that the circumstances surrounding how they came to be in the bath are unusual would be an understatement,\u201d Raper wrote.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe judge found that only one of the meanings alleged by MacInnes was conveyed by any of the four publications. That meaning, contained in Wilson\u2019s Sept. 23, 2024, post, was that MacInnes had changed her account of feeling uncomfortable about what happened in the bathroom.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRaper ruled that the meaning was not defamatory, finding that an assertion that someone had changed their story would not necessarily cause an ordinary reasonable person to think less of them.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe judge also made two alternative findings. She ruled that MacInnes had not shown that the publication caused, or was likely to cause, serious harm to her reputation. She further found that Wilson had established that the conveyed meaning was substantially true.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRaper found on the balance of probabilities that MacInnes had felt uncomfortable about the situation, had said something about it to Wilson the following day and later changed her account.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe judge described the versions given by MacInnes and Ghost as inconsistent and called both women \u201cunreliable historians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRaper found that Ghost, then 49, had placed MacInnes, then 25, in an awkward and stressful position by requiring the younger actor to care for her during the episode.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4650\">\u2018The Odyssey\u2019 Anoints Christopher Nolan as Hollywood\u2019s Most Powerful Director \u2014 Here\u2019s How Universal Thwarted Warner Bros. to Land Him<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe judgment did not determine that Ghost\u2019s behaviour was sexual or that sexual harassment had occurred. Raper explicitly said the parties had not asked the court to decide whether the conduct had a sexualised dimension.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe court instead found that MacInnes had complained about feeling uncomfortable in a situation that could be explained without reference to sexual harassment.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMacInnes had argued that Wilson\u2019s posts exposed her to online abuse and harmed her professional standing. Raper found no evidence that the publications had deprived her of work or other career opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe judgment noted that MacInnes signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in October 2025 and subsequently released two singles. Her agent did not identify any specific opportunity lost because of Wilson\u2019s publications.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tMacInnes\u2019 breach-of-confidence claim also failed. Raper found that MacInnes had not established that she made a complaint of sexual harassment, which was the information she alleged Wilson had improperly disclosed. The judge also found that the other required elements of the claim had not been proven.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tDuring closing arguments in May, MacInnes\u2019 barrister, Sue Chrysanthou SC, strongly attacked Wilson\u2019s credibility. \u201cShe is a fantastical liar who has made up terrible, terrible allegations about multiple people and her own witnesses have discredited her,\u201d Chrysanthou told the court.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tRaper said in the judgment that she had serious concerns about the reliability of the evidence given by MacInnes, Ghost and Wilson. She nevertheless accepted Wilson\u2019s evidence on the central question of whether MacInnes had raised her discomfort and subsequently changed her position.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tThe ruling concerns MacInnes\u2019 Australian case against Wilson. Separate legal disputes involving Wilson and producers of \u201cThe Deb\u201d remain distinct from the proceeding.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tFollowing the decision, Wilson thanked the court for considering the evidence and said she was relieved that the proceedings had concluded. \u201cThis has been a long process and throughout I have tried to stay grounded in my values and what I believed was right,\u201d Wilson said in a statement.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWilson also reiterated her support for \u201cThe Deb,\u201d describing it as a film about individuality, resilience and the courage to be oneself. \u201cRight now, what I\u2019m focused on is what matters most, my family and my work,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>\n\tWilson also addressed the ruling in an Instagram post, writing that she was \u201cgrateful this chapter has reached its conclusion\u201d and was looking forward to returning to \u201cwhat I love most, my family and my work.\u201d She thanked \u201cthe Judge and the Australian legal system,\u201d saying she has \u201cthe utmost respect\u201d for both.<\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/relocationobserver.com\/?p=4648\">Mike Preston, \u2018Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior\u2019 and \u2018Hot Pursuit\u2019 Actor, Dies at 93<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Australian Federal Court dismisses Charlotte MacInnes&#8217; case against Rebel Wilson over &#8216;The Deb&#8217; bath incident.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4653,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3725,3726,3727],"class_list":["post-4654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-film","tag-charlotte-macinnes","tag-rebel-wilson","tag-the-deb"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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