Rebel Wilson calls bullying claims 'absolute nonsense' during defamation trial

Rebel Wilson has described claims that she bullied women on a film set as "absolute nonsense" during her defamation trial in Sydney.

The Pitch Perfect star testified for the first time on Tuesday after Australian actress Charlotte MacInnes accused her of bullying women on the set of Wilson's 2024 directorial debut, The Deb.

MacInnes, who played the lead role in the film, alleges that Wilson damaged her reputation by claiming she had been the victim of "inappropriate behaviour" by producer Amanda Ghost, before conspiring with Ghost to cover up the incident.

Wilson maintains that MacInnes complained to her about Ghost's conduct following the alleged incident in 2023. However, MacInnes denies ever making such a complaint.

During the hearing, MacInnes' lawyer accused Wilson of bullying MacInnes, Ghost and The Deb writer Hannah Reilly on the set of the film.

Rejecting the allegations, Wilson told the court she had spent her career supporting women in the industry.

"That's absolute nonsense," the Bridesmaids actress said. "If you look over my 25-year career, you can see many evidences of me supporting women."

Wilson also denied that making negative statements about women on social media could be considered mistreatment, arguing that the comments she made were "truthful".

She further denied hiring a publicist to create websites spreading rumours about Ghost, including one site that referred to the producer as the "Indian Ghislaine Maxwell", referring to the associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.

After prosecutors labelled her a liar, Wilson described the accusations as "outrageous".

The dispute centres on an incident in September 2023, when MacInnes and Ghost went swimming at Bondi Beach.

Ghost reportedly suffered an allergic reaction to the cold water, and the pair returned to her apartment, where MacInnes ran a hot bath and they both got in to warm up while still wearing their swimsuits.

Wilson later claimed the bath incident had made MacInnes feel "uncomfortable", but MacInnes denied saying this and insisted she had only described the situation as "weird".

In court last week, MacInnes claimed that Wilson had "mischaracterised and exploited" an "innocent incident".

The court was also shown text messages Wilson sent to Ghost stating that MacInnes had "zero issues" with the incident, with one message reading, "Charlotte says all good."

MacInnes is suing for aggravated damages after Wilson posted about the matter on social media and is also seeking an order to prevent her from repeating the claims online.

Wilson is expected to continue giving evidence on Wednesday.