Updated ,first published
Rebel Wilson has rejected as “outrageous” a suggestion that she orchestrated an alleged cyberattack on the social media account of a young actor that led to her nude photo being leaked.
Wilson returned to the Federal Court witness box in Sydney on Thursday as she defends a defamation case brought against her Charlotte MacInnes, a lead actor in Australian musical film The Deb. The film was Wilson’s directorial debut.
In written evidence filed in court, MacInnes made an explosive allegation that she believed Wilson was involved in an incident in September 2025 where MacInnes’ Snapchat account was hacked.
A nude photo of her that she had sent to her boyfriend was sent to her contacts, MacInnes said.
“I believe that this was orchestrated by Rebel,” MacInnes said. “It was completely terrifying.”
MacInnes alleged the leak occurred on September 28, 2025. She had filed defamation proceedings against Wilson on September 25.
“At around the same time, someone also attempted to hack my Facebook account,” MacInnes said in the affidavit.
MacInnes’ barrister, Sue Chrysanthou, SC, asked Wilson during cross-examination on Thursday: “Did you arrange for someone to hack her Snapchat?”
“That is absolutely an outrageous statement to make in court, that I moonlight as a hacker,” Wilson replied.
“I didn’t say you hacked anyone, Ms Wilson,” Chrysanthou pressed. “I said did you arrange for anyone to hack her Snapchat shortly after you were sued by her.”
“Obviously not,” Wilson replied.
MacInnes, 27, appeared alongside Wilson, 46, in The Deb and is suing the Hollywood star over a series of Instagram stories posted between September 2024 and July last year.
MacInnes alleges Wilson defamed her on Instagram by suggesting she was a “sellout” and a liar who recanted a sexual harassment complaint to Wilson about one of the film’s producers, Amanda Ghost, in return for further job opportunities with Ghost. MacInnes denies making a complaint.
That is absolutely an outrageous statement to make in court, that I moonlight as a hacker.
Rebel Wilson, during cross-examination in the Federal Court on Thursday.
Wilson rejected as “nonsense” a suggestion by Chrysanthou on Wednesday that she made up the complaint to create division between Ghost and MacInnes. This was an “absolute nightmare situation” for her as a first-time director, Wilson said.
“It’s nonsensical. I’d worked for years to get this project up,” Wilson said. “It would not at all be in my interest to make up a sexual harassment complaint between these two very important people.”
She said on Thursday she “received no benefit” from speaking publicly about the allegation and had “told the truth at significant cost to myself”.
Wilson, who was a producer as well as director of the film, is facing separate lawsuits brought against her by the international co-producers of The Deb, including a US defamation suit.
Explicit text about screenwriter
During her evidence in Sydney on Thursday, Wilson was shown a text message she sent a producer of the film on September 20, 2023, in which she said Hannah Reilly, the writer of The Deb, could “f— right off”.
Chrysanthou alleged in court that Wilson’s “fury over not getting the shared writing credit” with Reilly sparked further rows between Wilson and her co-producers.
In an email in October 2023, Wilson said she would be “claiming a shared writing credit for the screenplay with Hannah Riley [sic] after completing 4 drafts on the script”.
Reilly wrote the stage production of The Deb and developed the script for film. The court has heard Wilson and Reilly had a falling out after Wilson sought a writing credit.
The Australian Writers’ Guild found in favour of Reilly in 2024 in a binding arbitration, and she received sole credit for writing the screenplay. Wilson received an additional writing credit.
The court has heard Wilson suspected MacInnes, who had also appeared in the stage production of The Deb, had been leaking information to Reilly amid the dispute over writing credits.
“F— we’ve found the leak! Charlotte’s been feeding Hannah info!” Wilson said in a text to a producer on September 5, 2023.
MacInnes denies the allegation. During her evidence this week, Wilson denied bullying MacInnes and Reilly and said in an affidavit filed in court that she considers herself a “champion of women”.
The Instagram stories
At the heart of the defamation case is a series of Instagram stories by Wilson which suggested 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”. She alleged MacInnes later “changed her story” to advance her career.
Neither MacInnes nor Ghost was named in the initial story, but it contained identifying information including an image of MacInnes.
There is no dispute Ghost and MacInnes shared a bath on September 5, 2023, while wearing their swimming costumes.
The women say it was in response to a medical episode in which Ghost had a reaction to cold water after swimming at Bondi Beach. At the time, they were staying at a rented Bondi apartment during rehearsals for The Deb.
It is also not disputed that Wilson called MacInnes on September 7, 2023, before texting Ghost: “Charlotte says all good. She just meant ‘it was a bizarre situation’ not that she felt personally uncomfortable x.”
But Wilson raised the alleged complaint about the bath incident again in October 2023. Chrysanthou claims she did so as “leverage” amid a commercial dispute with the film’s producers rather than to protect a young actor, an allegation Wilson denies.
“You used the allegation, which had long since been resolved, to get your way, didn’t you?” Chrysanthou asked during cross-examination on Wednesday.
“It hadn’t been resolved. Things had calmed down, yes, but did I have a sense of uneasiness about what the truth was, what actually happened? Yes, I had an uneasiness,” Wilson said. “It was really sus [suspicious].”
The Federal Court hearing in Sydney is expected to conclude on Friday after a nine-day trial.
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