Disturbed and disappointed: Brittany Higgins’ angry letter to Lisa Wilkinson

Five days after Brittany Higgins’ interview on The Project she accused Lisa Wilkinson of acting without her knowledge or consent.

Lisa Wilkinson and Brittany Higgins.

Five days after Brittany Higgins’ rape allegations interview aired on The Project she wrote an angry letter to host Lisa ­Wilkinson accusing her of ­putting together a second program based on footage not used in the first, without her knowledge or consent.

Ms Higgins writes that she is “disturbed and disappointed” that after making it clear she did not want another program “you have gone ahead and put one together anyway”.

In the letter from February 20, 2021, obtained by The Australian, Ms Higgins threatens that if Wilkinson “goes ahead and still airs this material knowing how strongly I am opposed to it, then I will be forced to issue my own media statement (and this email) making clear that I wrote to you and asked you not to do it due to my fragile mental health, but you did it anyway.

“I don’t think that helps either of us.”

On Monday The Australian ­revealed Ms Higgins and Wilkinson war-gamed how to recruit prominent politicians and media figures who could help give ­momentum to their upcoming ­interview on Network 10’s The Project, as the TV host made suggestions to the former Liberal staffer about how to frame her story.

The more than five-hour ­session, which also involved Ms Higgins’ boyfriend David Sharaz and Wilkinson’s producer Angus Llewellyn, was recorded on ­January 27, 2021, a few days ­before they filmed the interview that was broadcast on February 15 ­revealing Ms Higgins’ claims that she had been raped in Parliament House.

In her letter to Wilkinson after the program aired, Ms Higgins says: “It’s so wonderful; to hear that this story has resonated with the Australian public and I’m personally so heartened by their support.”

However, the friendly tone soon disappears.

“As I discussed earlier in the week with your producer Angus when I declined his approach for a second interview, I do not want to participate in any further media interviews at this stage,” Ms Higgins writes.

“The pressure has been ­impossibly intense and there has already been severe consequences for my family, David and myself.

“While I understand that you do have the contractual rights to my original interview, I was never told at that time that you would air more than one programme detailing my assault.

“I am therefore really disturbed and disappointed that when I told Angus I did not want another interview on this matter, you would have gone ahead and put one together anyway based on footage you filmed for the initial interview but did not use.”

Ms Higgins tells Wilkinson that she is not coping and that any more attention at that point would just exacerbate her stress further.

“You have been very good to deal with to date but I feel used if more material goes to air because again, as I have said repeatedly, I do not want to appear in any further media interviews at this time,” she writes.

“I issued a statement recently about not commenting any further on this matter due to my imminent formal investigation by the AFP. This is set to occur next week and is my primary concern at the present time.”

A week later, after a further exchange between the pair, Ms Higgins writes to Wilkinson again saying that she has only just watched The Project segment, and that “I just couldn’t do it until now.”

Ms Higgins agrees with Wilkinson that “there are more details about the subsequent conversations that may be of merit”.

“As long as you don’t bring (former prime ministerial staffer) Yaron (Finkelstein) back into the piece I’m happy for you to proceed. I just don’t have any proof of his involvement and it became a major stress point with the press gallery over the past two weeks,” she says.

The Australian revealed on Monday that in their pre-interview session Ms Higgins likened Mr Finkelstein to the ruthless House of Cards character played by Kevin Spacey. “I’d liken Yaron to like, Frank Underwood from House of Cards,” she said. “He is like, he’s the PMO fixer. He is that guy.”

In her second letter to Wilkinson, Ms Higgins asks “if you would consider including something about why I came forward that would be wonderful. I’ll leave it in your hands.

“It’s your call if it’s in the public interest now.”