The question that made the courtroom gasp – as Rebel Wilson is grilled after key evidence vanished

Rebel Wilson has been grilled over claims that her phone was stolen in London.

Wilson lodged a police report when her phone was stolen in London, ahead of defamation proceedings.

She told the court on Wednesday that she couldn’t hand all evidence from her phone over to the court, including WhatsApp messages, because they weren’t backed up.

‘WhatsApp wasn’t backed up and some chains of messages were not fully backed up,’ she said.

Charlotte Macinnes’ lawyer Sue Chrysanthou said: ‘Some chains?’

Wilson said she didn’t check to find out what messages went missing.

Ms Chrysanthou asked: ‘Are you sure your phone was stolen and you didn’t just dump it?’

There were gasps in the courtroom, as Wilson said: ‘That is absolutely outrageous.’

Wilson’s lawyer Dauid Sibtain SC objected, telling the court his client had repeatedly been asked whether she was lying.

Rebel Wilson has told the court she can’t remember being sued for defamation in 2016.

The first element Wilson was cross-examined on by Charlotte MacInnes’ lawyer Sue Chrysanthou SC on Wednesday morning was a defamation case in 2016.

Wilson settled a defamation case for $120,000 for launching a social media tirade against freelance journalist Elizabeth Wilson in 2016.

‘If your name is Elizabeth Wilson and you work for ACP Magazines, just know that you are a disgrace for harassing my sweet, sick grandma,’ Wilson wrote on Twitter.

She then posted a photo of another Elizabeth Wilson who worked at the same company.

In court on Wednesday, Ms Chrysanthou asked whether she recalled that case, saying ‘the proceedings went for a year’.

Wilson replied: ‘I don’t recall.’

Ms Chrysanthou told Wilson that she had called the journalist ‘scum’ and an ‘a**hole’, accused her of harassing her grandmother, claimed she was writing ‘bulls**t’, and slammed ‘tabloids’ as ‘dodgy’.

Along with those allegations, Wilson uploaded a photo of the wrong journalist.

‘You were sued nine months later,’ Ms Chrysanthou said.

Wilson told the court: ‘My memory is there was a just a demand letter.’

Ms Chrysanthou said Wilson had filed a defence, even though she knew she had pictured the wrong journalist and defamed her.

‘I just remember it didn’t go to court or anything,’ Wilson said.

Ms Chrysanthou said the matter was settled a year after the allegations were made.

‘Despite knowing you defamed the wrong person, you persisted in not apologising to her, didn’t you? It took a year and a half for that proceeding to resolve,’ she said.

‘I don’t recall how long it took to resolve, I just recall it was settled and I apologised,’ Wilson said.

Rebel Wilson offered a young star less than $2,000 for international exclusive rights to all her future recordings for a contract for up to four albums, court documents reveal.

The Pitch Perfect star and film production company Unigram offered the contract to singer and actor Charlotte MacInnes after she was cast in the lead role for the musical comedy film, The Deb.

The Deb was co-produced by Unigram – which is owned by Amanda Ghost and her husband, Gregor Cameron – and Wilson, who also directed and starred in the film.

On Tuesday, the Federal Court heard Wilson and Ghost were excited by MacInnes’ talent after her film audition in 2023.

They gave her the lead role in the film and offered her a recording contract under Wilson’s imprint label Rebellionaire with an advance of £1000, about AU$1800, in exchange for the rights to her future as a recording artist.

But the contract wasn’t a record deal – instead, it gave Wilson and Unigram the option of giving MacInnes a record deal if they wanted to, but they were under no obligation to do so.

It also tied MacInnes’ future career to the release of The Deb. If Wilson and Unigram decided to give her a record deal, they would have to do so ‘no later than one year after the initial commercial cinematic release of The Deb movie’.

This tied her music career into the release of the film. If it was delayed or shelved, MacInnes would have been locked into the contract indefinitely and banned from entering another agreement with a record label.

The contract also had a table for the advances MacInnes would receive if she released up to four albums with Rebellionaire, but the minimum and maximum figures were left blank.

MacInnes did not sign the contract and told the court last week it was a bad deal.

She instead signed with Atlantic and received an advance of about $145,000.

Rebel Wilson is being sued for defamation in the Federal Court by Charlotte MacInnes – the lead actor in musical comedy The Deb, which was directed by Wilson.

MacInnes launched legal proceedings in September after a series of Instagram posts where Wilson accused her of complaining about unwanted sexual advances by producer Amanda Ghost, and then lying about it to get a record contract.

MacInnes denies the sexual assault occurred, that she complained about it to Wilson, and that she retracted it in return for another lead role and the record deal.

The situation unfolded when MacInnes and Ghost had a sunset swim at Bondi Beach on September 5, 2023.

Ghost had a flare-up of a rare condition called cold urticaria, which causes hives or swelling after exposure to cold air or water. MacInnes took her back to their rented Bondi penthouse and ran a hot bath.

MacInnes got in the bath with Ghost. They were both wearing swimming costumes.

Wilson claims MacInnes felt uncomfortable about bathing with Ghsot, who was her boss at the time, and made a complaint to Wilson.

MacInnes says she never felt uncomfortable about the bath and denies making a complaint.

According to MacInnes’ statement of claim, Wilson’s posts accused her of lying about sexual assault and blocking the film’s release, and portraying her as selfishly prioritising her own career over cast and crew who worked on The Deb.

She claims Wilson’s social media posts damaged her professional reputation and created doubts about her trustworthiness before she played her first lead role in a film.

MacInnes is seeking aggravated damages for serious harm caused, as well as a court order preventing Wilson from repeating the claims online.