Rebel Wilson Calls ‘The Deb’ Legal Battle Her “Worst Nightmare”

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Rebel Wilson has spoken out about the legal issues surrounding her first film as a director, The Deb. In an interview with 60 Minutes Australia, she described the experience as her “worst nightmare” and said it felt like people were trying to damage her reputation.

Rebel Wilson, known for her role in Pitch Perfect, is currently involved in several legal battles. She’s being sued for defamation and breaking a contract by the U.K. producers of a film – Amanda Ghost, Gregor Cameron, and Vince Holden – and also by actress Charlotte MacInnes. Wilson has filed her own lawsuit in response, claiming she acted appropriately.

She said the problems were completely unexpected and very difficult to handle, but she did her best to manage them in a professional way.

I was really shocked to hear about what happened to Wilson during the making of the film last year. She said she and the local producers were essentially held against their will – “locked in a room” – and strong-armed into signing papers. The threat? The whole movie would be shut down and everyone on set would lose their jobs. She even joked at the time that it felt like something out of a spy movie, comparing it to the KGB!

I was really shocked to hear about what Rebel Wilson went through. She said she was constantly bullied and harassed just for speaking up about how the producers were acting. And she even claimed they tried to steal almost a million Australian dollars from the movie’s budget, though the producers say that’s not true.

The lawsuit also includes accusations that Ghost sexually harassed MacInnes. Wilson stated she reported these incidents because it was her duty as a director, and she believes that’s when she started experiencing retaliation. MacInnes denies these claims and is suing Wilson for defamation, alleging that Wilson’s posts on social media harmed her reputation.

Wilson firmly denied accusations that she was involved with harmful websites aimed at the show’s producers, stating the claims were completely false. She emphasized she had no involvement with the sites, didn’t ask anyone to visit them, and didn’t inform anyone connected to the show about their existence.

Wilson clarified that the film’s delayed debut at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival wasn’t due to disagreements among the producers. She explained, “They understood that the festival exposure would be beneficial for me as a new female director, but they intentionally delayed it as a response to me voicing my concerns.” Although the film eventually premiered at TIFF, the legal issues remained unresolved.

Wilson recently achieved a positive development in her legal defense. A Los Angeles court judge has ordered MacInnes to provide more details about her connection to Ghost in the U.K., and a formal questioning is scheduled for December of this year or early next year.

I just got word about a new film called The Deb heading to Australia and New Zealand in January 2026 – sadly, it doesn’t have a US distributor yet. But don’t worry, writer/director Nia Wilson is already working on something else! It’s a musical comedy called Girl Group, and the cast is amazing – Jennifer Coolidge and Nicole Scherzinger are both signed on, alongside Wilson herself. Sounds like a fun project!

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2025-11-24 10:16