Rebel Wilson addresses Bauer Media incident, saying it was ‘really hurtful and devastating’

REBEL Wilson may be a comedy film star, but she was dead serious while addressing a long-awaited issue on The Project.

REBEL Wilson is known for being a comedy film star, but she was dead serious as she addressed the impact the Bauer Media incident has had on her life.

Appearing as a guest panellist on The Project, the 38-year-old actress spoke out about the international firestorm that started after Woman’s Day deemed her a serial liar over her age, real name and childhood.

“It’s really awful,” she said. “I started wanting to be an actor when I was 18. I worked every single day of my adult life to make that dream come true.

“17 years later when I got to a really fantastic point ... a group of women who I didn’t know, who had never met me, orchestrated this take-down and said everything about me in my life was fake.

“It was so devastating to have that happen. I’m proud of myself, though, for standing up to them. This is a huge media organisation owned by German billionaires. That means they can afford to pay, by the way. And they intimidated me — they didn’t want me to sue them publicly. But I felt like it was the right thing to do.”

Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson has opened up on the impact the Bauer Media incident had on her life.

Wilson said she would be giving the money to charity, as her way of turning something “really, really hurtful and devastating” into a positive thing.

“If you’re going about your business and suddenly there’s this awful campaign that causes an international firestorm around the world to bring you down and say everything about you is a lie, it’s just heartbreaking,” she said. “Especially when I pride myself on being a very real, authentic person, that’s part of my personality.

“They’ve continued to fight me,” she went on. “But I’m still there every step of the way and it’s not about the money for me, but I want as much as possible to go to charity, so I’m here for the appeal.

“There’s so many Australians in all areas and those people shouldn’t suffer that thing because they were successful.”

She also said she hopes it will inspire other celebrities to challenge mistruths made about them in the media.

“I’m confident that the decision is not challenged. So I won the case. That’s awesome. My reputation has been restored. That’s not going to change. They’re basically concerned about the amount of money they have to pay.

“I’m pretty certain the Court of Appeal will get it right and hand down the right decision in a few months.”

Rebel Wilson successfully sued Women's Day magazine publisher Bauer Media in September 2017 over a series of articles she alleged portrayed her as a serial liar and cost her movie roles in Hollywood.

The Hollywood star sat through her second day of a Court of Appeal hearing on Thursday as the publisher of Woman’s Day challenged Supreme Court of Victoria orders it must pay her $4.5 million for defamation.

In June, an all-female jury agreed with Wilson’s claims that Bauer Media, which also publishes Australian Women’s Weekly, painted the 38-year-old as a serial liar about her age, real name and childhood in order to make it in Hollywood. Justice John Dixon ordered Bauer pay her a record $650,000 in general damages and $3,917,472 in special damages over the articles.

Bauer’s barrister Michael Wheelahan QC had argued the level of damages was “manifestly excessive”, and said Justice Dixon made an error ordering Wilson be compensated for losing film roles.

On Thursday Wilson’s $9000-a-day barrister Matthew Collins QC said publication of the articles and Bauer’s conduct during the trial went “beyond ordinary bounds” in terms of aggravating features.

Justice David Beach argued cinema-goers still supported Wilson’s smash-hit film Pitch Perfect 2 despite the articles.

“The money people in Hollywood would say it doesn’t matter what’s written in Woman’s Day,” he said.

“You’ve got this very good actress and she’s in a very good film and she’s being called a serial liar. What’s being a serial liar got to do with the film? “That’s the link that might be missing from this case.”

But Dr Collins said Wilson was not a typical A-list Hollywood star and had built her reputation as a homegrown actress — a reputation damaged by the articles. The parties have been given a fortnight to prepare written submissions.

The appeal may then be dismissed, or damages reassessed by either the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeal.

— with wires