Geoffrey Rush tells court he may have told co-star she looked ‘yummy’

Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush admitted in court he ‘possibly’ inadvertently grazed the breast of a younger female co-star.

‘Yummy has a spirit to it’ ... actor Geoffrey Rush leaves the Federal Court in Sydney with his wife, actress Jane Menelaus. Picture: AAP

Oscar winner Geoffrey Rush admitted in court on Wednesday he “possibly” inadvertently grazed the breast of a younger female co-star, and may have told her she looked “yummy” or “very scrumptious” while working on a 2015-16 production of King Lear.

Just a few hours later, Rush’s wife, actress Jane Menelaus, choked back tears in Sydney’s Federal Court as she said her husband “doesn’t wish to act again” and that “I have watched him be destroyed”, after The Daily Telegraph published articles reporting he was the subject of an “inappropriate behaviour” complaint made to the Sydney Theatre Company.

Rush’s wife was giving evidence on the third day of the defamation trial he has brought against the Telegraph.

The Shine and Pirates of the Caribbean star is suing the Telegraph and journalist Jonathon Moran, after the newspaper published allegations he behaved inappropriately towards his younger co-star, Eryn Jean Norvill, during the production. Rush said the Telegraph’s articles falsely painted him as a “pervert” and “sexual predator”.

Under cross-examination, Rush admitted he may have unintentionally grazed Norvill’s lower chest while they were performing. He said: “There was no touching of breast … Did a finger graze the lower part? Possibly.’’

He was referring to a key scene from the production in which King Lear, played by Rush, carried the lifeless body of Cordelia, played by Norvill, across the stage and mourned over her corpse.

Lawyer for the Telegraph, Tom Blackburn SC, put it to Rush that, “you moved your two or three fingers of your hand down slowly in an eight-second motion down the side of her right breast?’’ Rush denied this.

When asked by Mr Blackburn whether he had told Norvill she looked “very scrumptious”, Rush replied: “I don’t recall saying that, but I might have said that. I was in a very chirpy mood because I approached the rehearsals with a great deal of openness and energy.”

Rush said he “might have” also used the word “yummy” to describe Norvill during rehearsals. “Yummy has a spirit to it, because … most of our scenes together are going to be very dramatic, very harrowing — this is a good start (to rehearsals).”

The actor denied Mr Blackburn’s suggestion he called Norvill “scrumptious” or “yummy” while “making groping gestures” or “licking your lips”. “I don’t accept that,’’ Rush said.

Rush also denied Mr Blackburn’s assertion he had made similar gestures to the STC’S head of stage management, Georgia Gilbert.

Neil Armfield, the director of the King Lear production and a longtime friend of Rush, was at the court. He is expected to testify on behalf of the actor soon.

The court heard that in spite of an April 2018 affidavit declaring that Rush had been virtually housebound since the Telegraph’s articles were published, the actor had travelled to the Adelaide Arts Festival, Los Angeles, London and Italy this year.

Menelaus testified that when Rush saw the photograph of himself that accompanied the initial article, published last November, “he put his arm around me and he wept’’.

She recalled: “He said to me, ‘What I have worked for, for 40 years has been taken from me in an instant’.” Menelaus said that when further allegations about her husband — contained in a qualified-privilege defence document that has since been withdrawn from the case — were published, he “felt as though he was going mad’’.

As further media and online material linked Rush to the #MeToo movement, she felt “it can’t get any worse, you can’t kick him anymore. He doesn’t wish to act again.” She said he felt responsible his two adult children sought help outside the family after the Telegraph’s articles were published, and worried they were “pulling away from him’’.

Their daughter had since deferred a design course she was studying in London and returned home to Melbourne.

The trial continues.