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Rebel Wilson leaves the Supreme Court this week. 

By BILAL AHMED SYED

Actress Rebel Wilson's world was turned upside down when several magazines published stories accusing her of lying about her age, name, and making up stories to get ahead in Hollywood, she has told a court.

The Australian star of Pitch Perfect is suing Bauer Media, the publisher of The Australian Women’s Weekly, Woman’s Day and OK! magazines, for defamation over the articles. 

In the Victorian Supreme Court today, Justice John Dixon asked Wilson: “How do you feel about what is happening?”

She replied: “A bunch of women who have never met me wrote about me … and I feel hurt by it.”

The Pitch Perfect star wept while giving evidence.

Wilson said she had never had any contact with the journalist who wrote the original story,  who claimed to have received incorrect information from Wilson in an interview.

“Someone who has met me would know that I’ve been saying since 2009 … [that] a lady never tells her age,” she said.

When asked about the journalist's claim that the article had been fact-checked, Wilson said: “What does she mean by fact checking? The source has no evidence other than a few paragraphs.”

In evidence yesterday, she said that after the story broke, her publicist recommended she make the situation humorous and tweet something funny about it as if it didn’t affect her.

The court was told that these articles cost her major roles in hit movies, and that she was  fired from movies Trolls and Kung Fu Panda 3 as a result.

“You might have seen me crying already today just in the opening statements, to relive the time two years ago," she said.

“I won't be intimidated and I'm here ready to tell my side of the story,” she said.

Wilson’s lawyer, Dr Matthew Collins QC, told the court in his opening address that Wilson’s career was heavily damaged by the stories.

“Rebel knew instantly that the article was serious. It was a crisis. She thought she’d never been hit with such nastiness,” he said.

He said she cried when she spoke to her family about them.

The court had been told that the initial contact on the story came when a former classmate made a comment on article in Woman’s Day.

She was approached by a journalist from the magazine and paid $1000, it was revealed in an email exchange shown to the court.

However, legal advice was not to publish, and the magazine did not at that time.

The story eventually came out soon after the release of Pitch Perfect 2, in which Wilson starred.

Dr Collins said the movie was an overnight hit and changed Wilson’s life around. The publisher “timed its assault” in publishing then, despite not having the green light from its lawyers.

Bauer Media has said the articles had no effect on her career and has denied calling Wilson a “serial liar”.

Witnesses are expected to include her family, agents, and Australian actors Hugh Sheridan and Kate Jenkinson. 

The trial is expected to last  three weeks.