BREAKING NEWS: Geoffrey Rush will be paid $2.9MILLION in the largest defamation payout in Australia’s history – after actor offered to settle with newspaper for $50,000 and an apology
Geoffrey Rush has been awarded a $2.9 million defamation payout – the biggest in Australian history.
The Daily Telegraph has agreed to pay almost $2 million for lost earnings, on top of the $850,000 for a series of reports falsely accusing him of ‘inappropriate behaviour’ towards a female actor.
Lawyers for Mr Rush and the publisher of the Telegraph – Nationwide News, had agreed the actor should receive $1.98 million in damages for past and future economic loss resulting from the reports, the Federal Court heard on Thursday.
Geoffrey Rush (pictured) won his defamation case against a Sydney newspaper publisher and journalist over articles saying he’d been accused of inappropriate behaviour
Mr Rush had offered to settle the case for $50,000 and an apology, the court heard.
However, despite Nationwide News agreeing to pay the sum, the organisation is appealing the finding of defamation by Federal Court Justice Michael Wigney, Sydney Morning Herald reported.
The 67-year-old, who played Captain Barbossa in Pirates Of The Caribbean, sued the Daily Telegraph’s publisher Nationwide News and journalist Jonathon Moran over two stories and a poster published in late 2017.
The articles related to an allegation that Mr Rush behaved inappropriately towards a co-star – later revealed to be Eryn Jean Norvill – during a Sydney Theatre Company production of King Lear in 2015-16.
A Shakespearean actor and Hollywood star: Geoffrey Rush
Geoffrey Roy Rush is an Australian actor among 24 people who have won the Triple Crown of Acting: an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award and a Tony Award.
He has won one Academy Award for acting (of four nominations), three British Academy Film Awards (of five nominations), two Golden Globe Awards, and four Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Rush was born in Toowoomba, Queensland. His father was of English, Irish, and Scottish ancestry, and his mother was of German descent.
He starred in several Shakespeare plays on stage. His most famous films include The Kings Speech and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise in which he played Captain Barbarossa (right)
His parents divorced when he was five, and his mother subsequently took him to live with her parents in suburban Brisbane.
Before he began his acting career, Rush attended Brisbane State High School, and graduated from the University of Queensland with a bachelor’s degree in Arts.
Rush made his film debut in the Australian film Hoodwink in 1981.
He starred in several Shakespeare plays on stage. His most famous films include The Kings Speech and the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise in which he played Captain Barbossa.