The High Court in Australia has turned down Rebel Wilson’s application for leave to continue to fight her defamation case against Bauer Media.

Her lawyers appeared before the high court in Canberra on Friday (November 16th) seeking special leave to appeal, after a lower court ruled earlier this year that she must repay $4.1 million of her record $4.7 million pay-out to the publishers of Woman’s Day, who were found to have defamed her.

Wilson sued magazine publisher Bauer Media over articles that she said had wrongly portrayed her as a serial liar in a number of articles published in 2015, regarding both her age and childhood. She won an award of $4.7 million over a year ago, but that was subsequently slashed to just $600,000 when Bauer appealed earlier in 2018.

Rebel WilsonRebel Wilson's campaign against Bauer Media has finally come to an end

The latest ruling means that Wilson is now out of appeals, and must pay back the large part of her original award.

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The star of Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids, 38, was in defiant mood when she told reporters that she was pleased the case had reached a “definitive end”.

“To me it was never about the money, but about standing up to a bully and I have done that successfully,” she said outside the High Court of Australia. “At the end of the day that is what matters. Bauer Media were proven to have told terrible lies which were very hurtful.”

“Bauer Media is invested in its Australian business now more than ever,” Bauer’s chief executive Paul Dykzeul said in a statement, welcoming the ruling. “Our audience trust our content and our writers and they love our iconic brands like Woman’s Day and Australian Women’s Weekly.”

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