Hollywood star Geoffrey Rush won an Australian record multi-million-dollar payout Thursday after a court found that a Sydney newspaper defamed him.
Local media reported the Oscar-winning actor has been awarded almost USD 2 million for lost earnings and compensation, after he was accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour toward female cast members.
In a front-page article published in 2017, the Daily Telegraph wrote that the Sydney Theatre Company received a complaint that Rush had inappropriately touched a female co-star during a staging of "King Lear".
A Sydney judge had described the content as a "recklessly irresponsible piece of sensationalist journalism."