Rebel Wilson’s Mega Defamation Payout Just Got Cut From $4.5 Million To A Mere $600,000
It was previously Australia's largest ever defamation payout.
Remember Rebel Wilson’s mega defamation case against Bauer Media, where she was awarded a record-breaking $4.5 million in damages? Well, that payment is no more — today, Bauer successfully appealed the size of the payout, and it was reduced to just $600,000 instead.
A year ago, a jury found that Bauer Media, which publishes magazines like Australian Women’s Weekly and Woman’s Day, had defamed Wilson when it published a series of articles claiming she’d lied about her name, age, and other details about her life. The decision was pretty noteworthy mostly because of the size of the payment, which was Australia’s largest ever for a defamation case.
Bauer appealed the size of the payment, and it won that appeal today. While the original damages awarded to Wilson were split into $650,000 in general damages and $3.9 million to compensate for work she missed out on because of the damage to her reputation, today’s decision removed the $3.9 million compensation entirely, saying Wilson never actually proved a link between the Bauer articles and her missing out on roles in films.
The $650,000 compensation was also reduced to $600,000.
Sad for Wilson, except not really seeing as she’s already said she planned to donate any money she received to charity, or use it to support the Australian film industry. Last night she tweeted to remind people that she “already won the case”, and that today’s decision would just be about “the losers @bauermedia quibbling about how much they now have to pay me”.
What happens tomorrow is to do with the losers @bauermedia quibbling about how much they now have to pay me. While this case was never about the money for me, I do hope to receive as much as possible to give away to charities and to support the Australian film industry. ?
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 13, 2018
“While this case was never about the money for me, I do hope to receive as much as possible to give away to charities and to support the Australian film industry,” she wrote.
Wilson is overseas at the moment, so she has yet to comment on today’s decision. We’ll keep you posted.