Image copyright EPA Image caption Rebel Wilson won a defamation lawsuit against Bauer Media last year

An Australian court has ordered actress Rebel Wilson to repay the majority of her record defamation payout from a magazine publisher.

Wilson had received A$4.7m (£2.6m; $3.5m) in damages and interest from Bauer Media over articles that she said portrayed her as a serial liar.

But a court reduced the sum to A$600,000 earlier this month following an appeal by the publisher.

On Wednesday, Wilson was ordered to pay back A$4.1m and A$60,000 in interest.

She will also have to cover 80% of what Bauer spent on its appeal.

Wilson, an Australian star of Hollywood films including Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids, has vowed to give all of her compensation to charity.

In its original finding, the Supreme Court of Victoria awarded her A$650,000 in general damages and $A3.9m for film roles she had lost out on. She was later paid A$180,000 in interest.

However the size of the payout, Australia's largest for a defamation case, was reduced significantly on appeal.

Ahead of the appeal case - which Wilson did not attend in person - the actress was keen to point out that the court was not reconsidering whether she had won her case, but merely the amount paid out.

The Victorian Court of Appeal ruled that Wilson had failed to prove that Bauer was responsible for her missing out on film roles.

The actress wrote on Twitter at the time: "That's now $4 million less going to less fortunate Australians and leaves a billionaire corporation, proven guilty of malicious defamation, being able to get away with their seriously harmful acts for a very low pay day."

The size of the original payout also generated discussion in Australia over whether it could stifle future journalism in the public interest.</s>Wilson has been ordered to return most of the payout from what was the largest defamation payout in Australian legal history (AFP Photo/Robyn Beck )

Hollywood actress Rebel Wilson was ordered to return almost $3.1 million with interest to an Australian publisher Wednesday after a defamation payout was slashed on appeal.

The "Pitch Perfect" star was awarded Aus$4.5 million ($3.3 million) in damages against Bauer Media last September over articles claiming she lied about her age and background to further her career.

It was the largest defamation win in Australian legal history and Bauer appealed, arguing the size of the settlement set a dangerous precedent and there were errors of law in the judgement.

The Victorian Court of Appeal agreed and cut the payout to just Aus$600,000 earlier this month in a decision the actress called "absolutely flippant".

Bauer had already handed over the money and the Court of Appeal on Wednesday ordered Wilson to repay nearly Aus$4.2 million, including costs and more than Aus$60,000 in interest.

The star did not dispute that the money needed to be returned, but argued the interest should be charged at the prevailing Reserve Bank cash rate of 1.5 percent, rather than the two percent sought by Bauer.

The appeal court disagreed and ordered interest be paid at the higher rate.

Wilson vowed after the initial judgement to give any payout to charity and the Australian film industry. It is not clear whether she has already done so.

She had claimed a series of articles in Woman's Day, Australian Women's Weekly and OK Magazine in 2015 had portrayed her as a serial liar and damaged her reputation.

The Sydney-born actress told the trial she was sacked from DreamWorks animated feature films "Trolls" and "Kung Fu Panda 3" following the stories.

But the Court of Appeal said there was no basis for her to receive financial damages for the potential loss of roles.

It found that the previous judge had relied on evidence from Wilson and two Hollywood agents to draw the conclusion that she had lost job opportunities.</s>Australian actress Rebel Wilson has been ordered to repay £2.3 million to a magazine publisher after a court overturned her record defamation payout over stories in which it was claimed she invented her backstory to boost her career.

Despite winning the defamation case against Bauer Media last year, the Victorian Court of Appeal has ordered Wilson, who appeared in the Pitch Perfect series and Bridesmaids, to repay the bulk of her initial £2.6 million in damages, plus £34,000 in interest. She will also have to pay 80 per cent of the publisher's appeal costs.

Wilson sued Bauer Media over a series of articles published in its magazines in 2015 which claimed the 38-year-old lied about her name, age and being related to Walt Disney.

A jury found that she had been defamed and a judge then granted her a record payout, accepting her claim that the articles damaged her career and cost her roles in the films Kung Fu Panda 3 and Trolls.

But the appeal court slashed the damages amount, saying it had “no basis in the evidence”.</s>Actress Rebel Wilson has been ordered to repay $4.1 million she received from Bauer Media in a defamation payout that was later reduced on appeal to $600,000.

Victoria's Court of Appeal on Wednesday ordered Wilson pay Bauer Media $4,183,071.45 - including $60,316.45 in interest.

The original judgment awarding her a record $4.7 million was set aside on appeal earlier in June.

Wilson was awarded the landmark payout in September 2017 following a defamation trial over a series of articles that made her out to be a liar.

An appeal later found she was not entitled to $3.9 million in economic damages relating to a loss of income.

Wilson took to social media after the appeal, slamming the decision as unfair and saying she plans to challenge the outcome.

'Somehow the Court of Appeal have been absolutely flippant with regards to my economic loss, not to mention my overall hurt and distress at having to stand up to these bullies,' she wrote to her almost 3million followers on Twitter on June 14.

'That's now $4 million less going to less fortunate Australians and leaves a billionaire corporation, proven guilty of malicious defamation, being able to get away with their seriously harmful acts for a very low pay day!

'Clearly not fair. Come on Australia.'

Wilson was awarded the largest defamation payout in Australian legal history after claiming she lost film roles as a result of the defamatory articles.

Bauer had been quick to handover the original $4,749,920.60 payout, making a transfer to Wilson within three weeks of the September 13 judgment.

The star said she planned to distribute the money to charity and the Australian film industry.

On appeal Wilson did not dispute that the $4.1 million should be repaid, but argued the interest should be charged at the prevailing Reserve Bank cash rate of 1.5 per cent, rather than the two per cent sought by Bauer.

The appeal court disagreed and ordered interest be paid at the higher rate.

Wilson was also ordered to pay 80 per cent of Bauer's appeal costs.

Wilson will appear in the upcoming Hollywood film Isn't it Romantic, starring alongside fellow Australian actor Liam Hemsworth.</s>Actor Rebel Wilson will be left with less than 12% of the record $4.7m defamation payout she was originally awarded, after being ordered to hand back the majority of funds.



And the Hollywood star still needs to deduct some legal fees from what’s left.



Wilson was awarded a landmark payout in September 2017 after a defamation trial over a series of articles that made her out to be a liar.



But an appeal in early June found she was not entitled to $3.9m in economic damages relating to a loss of income, which made up a portion of the damages.



The Court of Appeal on Wednesday ordered Wilson repay Bauer Media $4,183,071.45 – including $60,316.45 in interest – after the original judgment was set aside.



Bauer had been quick to handover the original $4,749,920.60 payout, making a transfer to Wilson within three weeks of the 13 September judgment.



The star said she planned to distribute the money to charity and the Australian film industry.



But on appeal Wilson did not dispute that the $4.1m should be repaid.



She argued, however, the interest should be charged at the prevailing Reserve Bank cash rate of 1.5%, rather than the 2% sought by Bauer.



The appeal court disagreed and ordered interest be paid at the higher rate.



Wilson was also ordered to pay 80% of Bauer’s appeal costs.</s>Actress Rebel Wilson has been ordered to pay $4.1 million back to Bauer Media after the magazine publisher won its appeal to overturn her record defamation payout.

The Court of Appeal said Ms Wilson must repay the money, plus $60,316 in interest to Bauer Media.

She must also pay 80 per cent of the publisher's appeal court costs.

Ms Wilson was awarded more than $4.7 million in damages last year after a jury found Bauer Media had defamed Ms Wilson in a series of magazine articles published in May 2015.

The court found she had missed out on film roles because of the articles, which claimed Ms Wilson had lied about her age, real name and childhood.

But Ms Wilson's payout was overturned in May after the Court of Appeal found "there was no basis in the evidence for making any award of damages for economic loss".

It found the trial judge had relied on evidence from Ms Wilson and Hollywood agents to draw the conclusion that the actress had lost job opportunities due to the articles.

The Court of Appeal said that in awarding compensation for economic losses, Justice John Dixon "relied also upon his assessment of the trajectory of Ms Wilson's career".

In its appeal against the decision, Bauer Media argued that the $4.7 million payout was excessive and should be set aside due to errors in fact and law.

Ms Wilson will keep a remaining $627,165 in damages from Bauer Media.

The initial payout sum would have been the largest defamation payment ever ordered by an Australian court.

Several media organisations questioned whether the decision set a new precedent for defamation payments.

Earlier this month, Ms Wilson said on Twitter that she would fight the decision to reduce her payout.</s>Due to crappy lawyers and not much of a case, Rebel Wilson’s 2017 win in court has turned into a 2018 loss – at least as far as public perception is concerned. Warning: A tale of deception, lies, triumph, struggle, vanity, stupidity, boringness, and a one-note comedian awaits, so if you have literally anything better to do, do it. Anything.

In 2014 a woman named Caroline Overington interviewed Rebel Wilson for Australian Women’s Weekly, but after the interview published, she realized that Wilson had lied about her age (she wasn’t really twenty-nine,) name (Wilson claimed her real name was Rebel and provided an elaborate story about her mother’s ideation of the name. Her actual name is Melanie,) and other statements – including the non fact that Wilson reaps whimsical benefits from being related to Walt Disney. Via The Guardian:

In 2015 Overington published a followup piece calling Wilson out on her lies. Wilson claims that the piece made her a pariah in Hollywood, and that she lost lucrative movie deals thanks to her new reputation as a serial liar. Wilson sued the parent company of Australian Women’s Weekly, Bauer Media, with her agent Sharon Jackson explaining the impetus for the charges of lost wages and defamation:

What could be keeping Wilson from nabbing leading Hollywood rolls? I mean roles. JK I’m body positive now. Anyway, moving a tale as old as Rebel Wilson along, in 2017 she received a whopping $4.5 million payout ($650,000 in general damages and $3.9 million compensation) from Bauer to much fanfare, but just this week was officially ordered to pay back over $4.1 million of the cash after a court appeal from Bauer revealed that Wilson could not in fact prove that she would have banked millions of dollars had it not been for Overington’s article.

To sum things up, Wilson basically snatched global embarrassment out of the jaws of what should have been a win. And the Australian court system is a three-ring circus. But Wilson’s not the only one who lost out. Just imagine a world in which Wilson scored the leading roles of the decade. Twirling alongside Ryan Gosling in La La Land instead of Emma Stone. Saving the galaxy in Star Wars: The Force Awakens instead of stupid old Daisy Ridley. It would be like seeing John Candy in Spaceballs, and movies would have finally been funny again.</s>Rebel Wilson's fortunes turn, Ten's Pointless remake, Buffet dumps papers, and other media tidbits of the day.

Rebel Wilson to pay back millions. Actor Rebel Wilson has been ordered to pay back the damages she was awarded for defamation by Bauer Media. The record damages payout of $4.5 million was reduced on appeal, and yesterday a court ruled she needed to pay back $4.1 million including interest -- it had been handed over within weeks of the original court ruling. Wilson was also ordered to pay 80% of Bauer's legal costs for the appeal. Wilson has commentated much of the appeal process through her Twitter account, but hasn't commented on the latest orders other than to retweet a fan called Allan Allstar (who has 28 followers), who said the decision was a "proper injustice".</s>Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids star Rebel Wilson has been ordered to pay back almost all of the multi-million dollar award to Bauer Media that she had won from them in a defamation lawsuit.

The 38 year old star saw her award of A$4.6m (£2.7m) – a then-record amount in Australian legal history for a defamation case - slashed to A$600,000 (£338,000) on appeal two weeks ago after a judge ruled that the sum was too punitive on Bauer Media.

The media conglomeration was found to have defamed Wilson in the case last September, after they printed a series of articles in publications they owned in 2015 claiming that the actress had lied about her age and childhood in order to further her career.

Rebel Wilson has been ordered to pay back the award from the defamation case on appeal

The Sydney-born star claimed that features in Woman's Day, Australian Women's Weekly and OK Magazine had portrayed her as a serial liar and damaged her reputation, telling the court she was sacked from DreamWorks’ animated feature films Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3 following the stories.

More: Rebel Wilson refuses to shoot nude scenes in her films

Leading up to the trial two weeks ago, Wilson had tweeted: “everybody knows I lost money after those maliciously defamatory articles were printed about me by @BauerMedia in 2015. The learned trial judge and Australian jury on the case who heard all the evidence clearly agreed. But somehow the Court of Appeal have been absolutely flippant with regards to my economic loss, not to mention my overall hurt and distress at having to stand up to these bullies.”

Victoria State’s Court of Appeal in Melbourne ruled, however, that there was no basis for Bauer Media to be held liable for the potential loss of roles, finding that the judge in the original case had relied solely on the testimony of Wilson herself and two Hollywood agents that she had lost work. The same judge upheld the ruling on Wednesday (June 27th), ordering her to pay back the original award with interest.

Wilson, who pledged to donate any sums she received to charity, tweeted after the case: “less going to less fortunate Australians and leaves a billionaire corporation, proven guilty of malicious defamation, being able to get away with their seriously harmful acts for a very low pay day.”</s>Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson has been told she must pay back the millions of dollars she was awarded in a defamation court case last year.

The actress had her record AUS$4.6m (£2.7m) payment slashed to $600,000 (£338,000) on appeal two weeks ago after a judge ruled it was too much.

The same judge at the Victorian Court of Appeal in Melbourne has now said she will now have to repay AUS$4.2m (£2.4m) with interest.

The Hollywood star won her case against Bauer Media last year over articles from 2015 claiming she had lied about her age and background to further her career.

She had claimed a series of articles in Bauer-owned Woman's Day, Australian Women's Weekly and OK Magazine had portrayed her as a serial liar and damaged her reputation.

The Sydney-born actress told the trial she was sacked from DreamWorks animated feature films "Trolls" and "Kung Fu Panda 3" following the stories.

Earlier this month, she tweeted: "Everybody knows I lost money after those maliciously defamatory articles were printed about me by @BauerMedia in 2015. The learned trial judge and Australian jury on the case who heard all the evidence clearly agreed."

"But somehow the Court of Appeal have been absolutely flippant with regards to my economic loss, not to mention my overall hurt and distress at having to stand up to these bullies," she wrote.

The Court of Appeal said there was no basis for her to receive financial damages for the potential loss of roles and found the previous judge had relied on evidence from Wilson and two Hollywood agents to conclude that she had lost work.

Following the payout last year, Bauer appealed against what was the largest defamation payout in Australian legal history, claiming the figure set a dangerous precedent.

The judge in the Victorian Court of Appeal agreed and slashed the payment.

Wilson said after the initial judgement last year that she planned to give any payout to charity and the Australian film industry. It is not clear whether she did so.

Lamenting the decision earlier this month, she said: "Less going to less fortunate Australians and leaves a billionaire corporation, proven guilty of malicious defamation, being able to get away with their seriously harmful acts for a very low pay day."

"Clearly not fair. Come on Australia."

In the latest hearing this week, Wilson did not dispute that the £2.4m needed to be returned, but failed to convince judges she should pay less interest.
At appeal, Australian actress Rebel Wilson is ordered to pay back A$4.7m that she won in damages and interest from Bauer Media Group in what was Australia's largest ever libel payout. Wilson is also ordered to pay 80% of the group's appeal costs. The case stemmed from allegations that libelous articles portraying her as a serial liar had resulted in her losing acting jobs. The Victorian Court of Appeal finds that Wilson has not proved a connection between the libel and any failure to land roles. The case prompted national discussion over potential chilling effects on legitimate journalism.