Rebel Wilson won the defamation lawsuit against Bauer Media last year and she was awarded a $4.7 million payout. However, the ‘Pitch Perfect' actress lost in the appeal and now the court wants her to return the sum of $4,183,071.45 to the Australian media company.
According to BBC News, with the new court order, Wilson will only get 12 percent of the original amount she received last year. This means that her compensation has been reduced to just $600,000 as Bauer Media managed to overturn the first decision.
Moreover, as the court of appeals deduced that she is not qualified to receive the millions that were given to her as compensation. The court ruled she failed to prove that the published articles resulted to a loss of income. Wilson was also asked to pay $60,316.45 in interest plus the legal fees spent by Bauer Media for appealing the initial court decision.
Back in September 2017, the actress was awarded the huge payout when the judge found Bauer Media guilty of defaming the actress through false reporting. In her lawsuit, the actress claimed that the company slandered her by making up stories that made people think she has been lying all this time.
She alleged that in May 2015, a series of articles about her were released through different publications owned by Bauer Media. Wilson said that she was depicted as a serial liar for not revealing her true age, real name and about her childhood, The Guardian reported.
The 38-year-old star stated that such write-ups gravely ruined her image and her career suffered because of this. The damage was so bad that she lost many projects including a few leading role jobs.
She narrated that after the misleading articles were published, she was taken out from two major movies - ‘Trolls' and ‘Kung Fu Panda 3.' Her removal from movies and other projects left her jobless for more than a year.
Now, with the old judgment set aside and the new ruling upheld, she needs to repay Bauer Media whether she likes it or not. At this time, it is still not clear if the Court of Appeals has set a deadline for the star to return the money.
Although Rebel Wilson has not directly commented on the results of Bauer Media's appeal, she retweeted a comment left by one of her supporters.
"It angers me to hear about the proper injustice done by @bauermedia to @RebelWilson," Allan Ross tweeted. "A David & Goliath battle where a billionaire bully stomps on good-hearted, honest talent representing. How can we be proud to accomplish greatness if we can't win against unfairness?"
Meanwhile, Rebel Wilson previously announced that she decided to donate the lawsuit payout once she received it. In particular, she mentioned about her plans to share out the money to charity and the Australian film industry, but it seems that this will not happen anymore.
