If you wanted more Rebel Wilson in How To Be Single, the actress wants you to know who you can blame. Wilson is suing Australia's Woman's Day magazine, claiming the publication "ripped her character to shreds," making it hard for her to get work.
According to The Daily Mail, in her testimony against Woman's Day publisher Bauer Media in a Melbourne court, Wilson claimed that the magazine, published eight damaging articles in 2015 that accused her of lying about her age, name, and her background. "I don't have a drug past. I don't have a weird sex tape or a criminal history," Wilson reportedly told the court."They're calling me a fake when I'm known for being myself."
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Wilson was so upset by the negative reports, she claims she developed "stress sores" around her mouth, which resulted in her being deleted from scenes in the 2016 movie How To Be Single. The BBC reported that Wilson's lawyer said the Woman's Day articles led Wilson to lose parts in the animated movies Kung Fu Panda 3 and Trolls. "It should have been the high point of her career," her lawyer said. "She should have been going from meeting to meeting to discuss future roles. In fact the phone stopped ringing."
Wilson also reportedly told the court she "never expected to be in a court case having to prove every aspect of my life," before having to do just that. Wilson said she had legally changed her birth name from Melanie Elizabeth Bownds to Rebel Elizabeth Melanie Wilson, grew up without much money, and was 37 years old. Shortly after reports surfaced in 2015 that Wilson was telling the truth about her age she was quick to defend herself with a joke on Twitter, "OMG I'm actually a 100 year old mermaid formerly known as "CC Chalice" ....thanks shady Australian press for your tall poppy syndrome."
In her testimony, Wilson claimed that the anonymous source Woman's Day used in their articles about her was actually an "obsessed and weirdly jealous" former classmate who was looking to make a "quick buck." Email evidence from the magazine's editors reportedly shows that the source reportedly asked for a fee. In one email, a lawyer for the publisher advises against publishing the story, saying "we just can't risk being sued."
A lawyer for Bauer Media reportedly defended the articles, telling the court the stories were true and "unlikely to cause Ms.Wilson harm."
Refinery29 has reached out to Wilson's publicist for comment about the case, but has not heard back.
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