A high-profile defamation case centered on Hollywood star Rebel Wilson has wrapped its closing arguments in an Australian court, with both sides trading starkly conflicting accounts of events that unfolded on Sydney’s Bondi Beach back in 2023. The lawsuit was filed by 2021 Western Australian acting academy graduate Charlotte MacInnes, a rising young performer who landed a lead role in Wilson’s directorial debut feature *The Deb*. MacInnes accuses Wilson of spreading false, reputation-ruining claims about her across two series of Instagram posts in 2024 and 2025, and is now seeking aggravated damages for the alleged harm. At the heart of the legal battle is a specific incident that took place in September 2023, when MacInnes joined *The Deb* producer Amanda Ghost for a daytime swim at the iconic coastal spot. Court testimony confirmed that Ghost suffered a sudden, severe allergic reaction to the cold ocean water, breaking out in painful red welts and experiencing uncontrollable shaking. To help her recover, the pair retreated to Ghost’s nearby luxury rental apartment to warm up. What followed is the subject of intense dispute: MacInnes ran a bath for the ailing producer, stepped into the tub herself to get warm while both women remained in their swimwear, and Ghost joined her shortly after. Ghost’s assistant even brought hot drinks to the pair and sat with them briefly, confirming no inappropriate behavior occurred in the moment, according to the plaintiff’s legal team. In a sworn affidavit, Wilson claimed that the day after the incident, MacInnes approached her saying Ghost had pressured her into joining the bath, which left her feeling sexually uncomfortable. Wilson stated that she was deeply troubled by the account and suspected a sexual advance had taken place. Two days later, Wilson followed up with MacInnes via phone, however a text message Wilson sent to Ghost immediately after that call, which was entered into court evidence, read: “Charlotte says all good. She just meant ‘it was a bizarre situation’ not that she felt personally uncomfortable x.” MacInnes’s legal team, led by senior barrister Sue Chrysanthou, has argued that Wilson’s entire narrative of the incident is a deliberate, malicious falsification. In closing statements, Chrysanthou slammed Wilson’s account as a “complete revision of history” that defies basic logic, pointing out that Ghost was experiencing a medical emergency at the time, making any coordinated sexual advance impossible. She went as far as labeling Wilson a “fantastical liar” who invented the “terrible” claims against MacInnes for personal gain during contract negotiations for *The Deb*, where Wilson was seeking a larger payout from producers. The plaintiff’s team also added accusations that Wilson engaged in a pattern of bullying against female crew and cast members on the set of the film, a claim Wilson has repeatedly dismissed as “absolute nonsense.” An additional allegation claims that Wilson commissioned a smear website to target Ghost, a charge she also firmly denies. On the defense side, Wilson’s lawyer Dauid Sibtain SC pushed back against MacInnes’s claims, arguing that the young actress has altered her account of the incident over time to secure professional benefits from the film’s production team. Sibtain told the court that MacInnes’s career has not suffered any harm from Wilson’s social media posts — in fact, he noted, her career has flourished in the years since the incident, with her landing a major record deal and multiple additional acting roles through connections to Ghost, as he alleged she was promised in exchange for retracting any claims of harassment. The case has now completed three weeks of testimony and closing submissions, with Justice Elizabeth Raper expected to reserve her decision on the case. This is not the only legal trouble Wilson is currently navigating: the actress is already facing two separate lawsuits from *The Deb* producers, including one filed in Australia and another in the United States, both originating from disputes tied to the production of the film.
Rebel Wilson accused of ‘complete revision of history’ as defamation case closes
