Rebel Wilson will have her legal fees paid for after winning the largest payout for a defamation lawsuit in Australian history, a court has ruled.
Bauer Media have been forced to pay up A$1.3 million (£710,000) of Rebel’s A$1.4m costs, on top of the A$4.5m (£2.7m) in damages they were made to cough up last year.
Rebel successfully sued the publisher for a string of eight articles claiming she had lied about her age and backstory, stating she had lost two acting roles as a result of the claims.
On Thursday (12 April) an Australian court ruled that Bauer would have to pay 80% the actor’s legal costs, but she would not be given it as a gross sum, meaning she may have to wait until the end of the year to receive it.
Bauer had previously launched an appeal against the defamation pay out and a separate hearing will take place next week to decide this case.
After last year’s legal battle, Rebel pledged to donate any damages she received to “charity, scholarships or [investment into] the Aussie film industry to provide jobs”.
She also posted a series of tweets, expressing her relief that the long court case is finally over, as well as thanking fans for their support.
“Justice Dixon accepted that Bauer Media subjected me to a sustained and malicious attack timed to coincide with the launch of ‘Pitch 2’,” she wrote. “The judge accepted without qualification that I had an extremely high reputation and that the damage inflicted on me was substantial.
“Justice Dixon has awarded me a record sum and I’m extremely grateful for that.”
Not only did the A$4.5m payout make Australian history, it was also four times the previous record.