The ‘bath incident’ trial has officially hit court — here’s whats happened so far and what’s next
Earlier this week, a defamation case against Wilson kicked off in the Federal Court of Australia in Sydney.
The lawsuit comes from The Deb lead actor Charlotte MacInnes, and centres around claims Wilson made publicly about an alleged sexual harassment incident during the film’s production.
Wilson has previously alleged that MacInnes told her she felt uncomfortable after an encounter with producer Amanda Ghost back in 2023.
She later claimed to her millions of Instagram followers that MacInnes withdrew those concerns after being offered career opportunities – including a stage role and a record deal.
MacInnes is now suing over those claims, calling them completely false.
At the centre of it all is what’s now being referred to as the “bath incident” – and depending on who you ask, it’s either something serious or something completely misrepresented.
In court, MacInnes said the moment had nothing to do with harassment. Instead, she described a medical emergency: Ghost had allegedly suffered a severe reaction to cold water after swimming at Bondi Beach, and MacInnes helped her into a warm bath while both were still in their swimmers.
Her legal team has gone as far as calling Wilson’s version of events a “malignant lie,” arguing it was fabricated and later used as leverage in a separate dispute over the film’s finances and credits.
Since the trial began, things have only escalated.
Wilson has been accused of hiring a private investigator to dig into MacInnes’ background, and of using “troll” websites to damage her reputation.
There’s also been a dispute over missing text messages, with the judge ordering Wilson’s legal team to hand over communications that were allegedly not provided earlier.
Wilson’s lawyers are pushing back on all of it. They maintain that MacInnes did raise concerns at the time, and only later changed her story as her career began to take off.
The trial is expected to run for nine days, with Wilson set to take the stand next week – which will likely be a turning point in how this all plays out publicly.
And if that wasn’t enough, this isn’t the only legal fight tied to The Deb. Separate defamation proceedings are currently underway in Los Angeles, where the film’s producers are also suing Wilson.
For now, this is where things stand – two completely different versions of the same moment, now being picked apart in court, with a lot more still to come.
