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Hollywood star Rebel Wilson has rejected an “absolutely outrageous” accusation that she dumped her phone to avoid handing over key communications in a defamation case.
The Pitch Perfect star is being sued by Charlotte MacInnes, the 27-year-old lead actor of the musical comedy The Deb.
MacInnes alleges she was defamed by Wilson in social media posts that suggested she is a liar who retracted a sexual harassment complaint to further her acting and music career.
Wilson claims MacInnes confided that she felt uncomfortable after the film’s co-producer Amanda Ghost asked her to have a shower and a bath together in September 2023.
“I was pretty shocked by it,” Wilson told the federal court on Wednesday. “I took it as a sexual harassment complaint.”
She was in the witness box for a second day on Wednesday after repeatedly rejecting accusations she was lying or that she had bullied and harassed MacInnes.
The Bridesmaids star told the court her phone had been stolen in London so she was unable to hand over some crucial communications requested by MacInnes’ legal team.
Wilson said some of her text chains hadn’t been backed up so she was unable to retrieve and surrender them.
“Are you sure your phone was stolen and you didn’t just dump it in a park?” MacInnes’ lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC asked.
Wilson’s lawyer, Dauid Sibtain SC, objected to the question but not before his client answered.
“That is absolutely outrageous,” the actor said.
Wilson was also questioned about a text message exchange she had with MacInnes in May 2023, after inviting her to a theatre production with other cast members of The Deb.
The young actor blamed a lack of wi-fi for her lack of response to Wilson and explained she had ended up dining with Ghost instead, the texts show.
“Huge apologies again for last night,” MacInnes texted the next day.
“I appreciate the apology,” Wilson replied.
“In the future, it is terribly rude to say you wanted a ticket to a show and then you don’t reply or follow up … not a great start to our working relationship.”
MacInnes apologised again and praised the older actor as “nothing short of wonderful”.
Wilson rejected suggestions from Chrysanthou that the text was utterly inappropriate, bullying or “over the top”.
“I don’t regard one text message as bullying,” she said.
Later on Wednesday, Wilson described the claimed sexual harassment incident as an “absolute nightmare situation” and said MacInnes later “flip-flopped” on her complaint while sounding nervous in a phone call.
Chrysanthou noted her client had consistently denied making a complaint and suggested Wilson made up the comments to sow division.
Wilson rejected the accusation, and described a producer and young lead actor living and having a bath together as a terrible scenario.
“It is an absolute nightmare situation for me who’s a first-time director making a movie that is essentially a girl-power movie,” she said.
“It would not at all be in my interest to make up a sexual harassment complaint.”
Wilson suggested someone spoke to MacInnes to get her to change her story before the phone call in which the young actor insisted she had not been uncomfortable during the earlier incident.
The first-time director reported the conversation back to Ghost, telling her “Charlotte says all good”, texts tendered to the court showed.
But Wilson said she felt a lingering sense of unease about the situation after observing a change in how the pair interacted, including overt sexual conversations.
“It was really suss,” she said.
Chrysanthou accused the Hollywood star of raising the alleged complaint after it had been resolved in order to get her way during a dispute with her co-producer, something Wilson denied.
The famous actor has also repeatedly denied bullying and harassing MacInnes, saying she considers herself a champion of women.
In her affidavit, Wilson wrote that she overheard the producer and young actor saying things of a sexual nature to each other, which MacInnes has rejected as false.
It is likely Wilson will face questioning about a claim MacInnes made in her own sworn statement that the older actor had directed a cyber-attack on her social media accounts.
MacInnes alleges her Snapchat account was breached and there was an attempted breach of her Facebook account days after she filed legal proceedings against Wilson in September.
The hack led to a nude photo of her being leaked to all of her contacts, she claims.
“I believe that this was orchestrated by Rebel,” she wrote in her affidavit.
As of Wednesday morning, evidence to support the claim had not been aired in open court and Wilson was yet to be asked about it.
As Wilson entered the courthouse on Wednesday, she revealed she was preoccupied with her heavily pregnant wife and the impending birth of her second child.
“If I seem a bit anxious, it’s because any day my second child may be born, hopefully not today,” she told reporters.
