Support for actress Eryn Jean Norvill as Geoffrey Rush wins defamation case

Actress Eryn Jean Norvill has received a wave of public support after a Federal Court judge sided with actor Geoffrey Rush in an $850,000 defamation verdict against The Daily Telegraph.

• Geoffrey Rush awarded $850k in defamation case

Actress Eryn Jean Norvill has received a wave of public support after a Federal Court judge sided with actor Geoffrey Rush in an $850,000 defamation verdict against The Daily Telegraph.

Social media lit up with #IstandwithEJ messages for the actress who bravely stood outside the court after the judgment to say: “I told the truth”.

Eryn Jean Norvill, (inset left) Justice Michael Wigney and (inset right) Geoffrey Rush.

Justice Michael Wigney found The Daily Telegraph had defamed Mr Rush by painting him as a pervert and a sexual predator in a series of articles in 2017.

The newspaper had argued its articles were true — based on Ms Norvill’s evidence — but Justice Wigney rejected that evidence and said he had concerns about her “reliability and credibility”.

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Comforted by her family, Ms Norvill closed her eyes as Justice Wigney said she was a witness “prone to exaggeration and embellishment”.

Instead, he opted to believe the evidence of director Neil Armfield and actresses Robyn Nevin and Helen Buday, who sang Truly Scrumptious from the witness box at the hearing.

During the three-week trial Ms Norvill told the court she had felt “trapped” as Mr Rush “slowly” and “deliberately” ran his fingers over her right breast as she played dead on stage during a Sydney production of King Lear.

She also told the court she had felt “belittled, embarrassed” and “shamed” after the Pirates Of The Caribbean star gestured groping her breasts while bulging his eyes and licking his lips during rehearsals — an account rejected by the judge.

Ms Norvill arrives at the Federal Court in Sydney yesterday, flanked by supporters. Picture: Jonathan Ng

Outside court, Ms Norvill said she stood by everything she said at trial. “I told the truth. I knew what happened. I was there,” she said.

The 34-year-old said she “would have been content to receive a simple apology and promise to do better”, from Mr Rush rather than for the matter to go to court.

Ms Norvill said it was now time to make genuine cultural change by confronting the “power imbalances in our workplaces”.

“It has to be possible for a young woman working in the theatre, who feels unsafe in her workplace, to get that situation fixed,” she said.

And she thanked Orange Is The New Black actress Yael Stone “who had the courage to speak out and lend her voice towards making positive and lasting cultural change a reality”.

After the trial, Ms Stone told The New York Times that during a 2010 production of Diary of A Madman, Mr Rush tried to spy on her while she showered, danced naked in front of her backstage, and sent her sexually suggestive texts. The Oscar winner denied the allegations.

Geoffrey Rush arriving at the Federal Court for the ruling. Picture: Jonathan Ng

The Daily Telegraph’s editor Ben English said of the judgment: “We are disappointed with Justice Wigney’s findings, in particular his dismissal of Eryn Jean Norvill’s evidence.

“We disagree with his criticisms of her and she has our full support.

“We will now review the judgment.”

Outside court, Mr Rush, 67, said the case has been “extremely distressing for everyone involved”.

“There are no winners,” he said.

The judge said Mr Rush’s reference to having “a stage-door Johnny crush” on Ms Norvill in an interview was intended to be a lighthearted and humorous compliment.

The author of that article, Elissa Blake, yesterday came out to urge the theatre industry­ to get behind Ms Norvill, tweeting: “Give her all the work she so richly deserves­.”

Twitter users rallied behind Ms Norvill, with one saying: “This trial will not define her as a human, or as an artist. I am deeply, deeply ashamed by our industry.”