‘Mocking the evidence’: Post by Rebel Wilson’s wife sparks controversy in court

An Instagram post by Rebel Wilson’s wife has sparked controversy in court after the young actor suing the Hollywood star for defamation said it appeared to be “mocking the evidence that I gave”.

Charlotte MacInnes, who plays the lead role in Australian musical film The Deb, which was directed, co-produced and acted in by Wilson, is suing the Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids actor over a series of social media posts.

She was cross-examined by Wilson’s barrister, Dauid Sibtain, SC, in the Federal Court in Sydney on Thursday before returning to the witness box briefly on Friday for re-examination by her own barrister.

Sue Chrysanthou, SC, asked MacInnes about a story on Ramona Agruma-Wilson’s Instagram account, posted after the bulk of MacInnes’ evidence had been completed.

It showed a character from the animated film Finding Nemo, Dory, who is forgetful, with the words “I suffer from short-term memory loss … or do I? I can’t remember.”

Sibtain said it was an “anodyne reference to a character from a movie”, prompting Chrysanthou to say that this “can’t be a serious” response “given the timing of the post”.

“I felt as though she was mocking the evidence that I gave,” MacInnes told the court.

Chrysanthou told the court this would be relevant to aggravated damages.

MacInnes launched the Federal Court defamation suit against Wilson over a series of four Instagram stories, posted between September 2024 and July last year, that made claims about the young star and Ghost.

Wilson alleged in one of the stories that MacInnes made “a complaint to me as director” that Ghost “asked her to have a bath and shower with her and it made her feel uncomfortable”.

Neither woman was named in that story, but surrounding posts contained identifying information.

MacInnes is not suing for defamation over Wilson’s allegation that she made a complaint. At issue is a further allegation by Wilson that the rising star recanted the alleged complaint in return for further career opportunities allegedly set up by Ghost, namely a lead role in a stage production and a record label.

MacInnes gave evidence on Thursday that she “never made a complaint” to Wilson and “didn’t walk back anything”.

At the time of the alleged complaint in September 2023, MacInnes was living with Ghost and the producer’s assistant at a rented Bondi penthouse apartment during rehearsals for The Deb.

MacInnes gave evidence on Thursday that the bath incident on September 5, 2023, was a medical episode. Ghost had a reaction to the cold after swimming with MacInnes at Bondi Beach, and MacInnes assisted the producer to warm up, she said. At one stage both women, wearing their swimmers, shared a bath.

Sibtain put to MacInnes that it was a “pretty regular-sized bath”. MacInnes described it as large.

The singer and actor agreed under questioning by Sibtain that she ran a bath for Ghost to warm up, but said she got in first rather than Ghost. She denied Ghost invited her to get in the bath.

Chrysanthou alleged in her opening address to the court that Wilson “was not a whistleblower … seeking to protect a young actress” and had only claimed when it “suited” her that MacInnes was “a victim”.

Wilson has denied making the claims to further her commercial interests amid a welter of legal disputes with the film’s co-producers, including Ghost. She is seeking to rely chiefly on the defence of truth.

Producer gives evidence

Ghost, who flew from London for the proceedings, told the court on Friday that she believed MacInnes “nearly carried me into the bathroom” after she had a reaction to the cold water, and possibly assisted her to turn on the shower.

“As much as I could speak, I said I wasn’t getting warm,” Ghost said. She said she then got into the bath.

Ghost said in an affidavit filed in court that Wilson called Pia Ashcroft, then an assistant to the producer, during the incident, and the call was initially on speaker. This was embarrassing, she said, because Wilson was saying she was annoyed with MacInnes and wanted to reduce her singing lines in the film.

Ghost agreed that Wilson spoke to her the next day, and she was “shocked” Wilson suggested MacInnes had told her she had been uncomfortable during the Bondi incident.

“You told Ms Wilson you’d done nothing wrong,” Sibtain said. “Yes,” Ghost replied.

“And you called Ms MacInnes a liar,” he said. “No,” Ghost said.

Wilson texted Ghost the next day, September 7, 2023, and said: “Charlotte says all good. She just meant ‘it was a bizarre situation’ not that she felt personally uncomfortable x.”

Wilson added: “So all good there.”

Ghost texted back: “Oh thank f— for that!!” She added “OMG”, “that’s hilarious”, and “I nearly died” in a string of follow-up messages.

She agreed with Sibtain that she understood Wilson was telling her “there’d been a clarification of the comment made the previous day”.

‘Not too late to recast’ text

Asked if she thought MacInnes was “being a troublemaker”, Ghost disagreed but said she “didn’t know what she was doing” and “I was very unsure”.

“Both you and Ms Wilson suggested firing Ms MacInnes in jest,” Sibtain said. “No,” Ghost replied.

She was shown a text from Wilson after the Bondi incident with a screenshot of what Sibtain said was a “young brunette” and the words: “Ramona says not too late to recast.”

Ghost replied to the text: “Yes please.”

She told the court this was her response to “how funny it was” as a joke.

Asked if she was annoyed with MacInnes at the time, around September 9, 2023, Ghost said: “I was not annoyed at the beginning; I was annoyed when Rebel presented a case against her to me.”

Ghost agreed she arranged through another producer to have MacInnes leave the apartment.

The trial continues.

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