A gossip column threatening to “out” actress Rebel Wilson was “likely to cause substantial offence and distress”, the Australian Press Council has found.
Earlier this month, the Australian star labelled Sydney Morning Herald journalist Andrew Hornery’s attempt to reveal her relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma “grubby behaviour”.
His Private Sydney column, titled Rebel Starts Spreading The News was published in June.
While the journalist had hoped to break the story of Wilson’s same-sex relationship, he instead was forced to comment on her own announcement after the Bridesmaids star revealed the news on Instagram, the day before his column was due to be published.
Along with a picture of herself and Agruma together, Wilson announced her relationship to the world, writing: “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess #loveislove.”
Hornery’s column the following day described how Wilson had “ignored” his email requests for comment and instead had opted to “gazump” him.
His column attracted a global backlash from celebrities and LGBT charities alike, criticising his attempt to out the actress.
More on Rebel Wilson
Related Topics:
That column was later removed, and replaced with an apology from Hornery, in which he said he had “mishandled” the story, and understood why his email to Wilson “had been seen as a threat”.
Admitting the tone of his resulting column was “off”, he said it was not the newspaper’s “business to ‘out’ people”, adding, “that is not what we set out to do”. He also said as a gay man, he was “well aware of how deeply discrimination hurts”.
Advertisement
Within his apology, he included the content of his original email to Wilson’s management team, telling her he had “several sources” confirming her relationship status, and had “enough details to publish”. He had given her two days to respond.
He said this was his deadline, rather than an ultimatum.
The Australian Press Council, which is the principal body with responsibility for responding to complaints about Australian newspapers, magazines and digital outlet, published its ruling on the Herald’s website on Saturday.
The media watchdog wrote: “The tenor of the publication’s communications with Ms Wilson concerning a deeply personal matter, and the associated commentary on a matter which had no apparent connection to her public activities, intruded on her reasonable expectations of privacy.
“The council considers that, taken collectively, the article’s reference to ‘outing’ same-sex celebrity couples, its reference to giving Ms Wilson two days to respond to information concerning her relationship, and its forthright criticism of her for not responding, was likely to cause substantial offence and distress.”
They found there was not enough public interest to justify the intrusion, and that the paper had broken two of the council’s general principles in publishing the column.
Earlier this month, Wilson told The Australian newspaper the “hurry” to reveal the news of her relationship publicly had meant they had been yet to tell some family members they were a couple.
Wilson is set to star in her first dramatic role in indie film The Almond And The Seahorse, which will be out in UK cinemas later this year.
Davina McCall has said her short-term memory is “a bit remiss” as she recovers from brain tumour surgery.
Speaking from her bed, the visibly emotional TV presenterposted a short video updating her Instagram followers on her condition, saying it had been a “mad” time.
She expressed an “enormous heartfelt thank you” to people who had messaged her after she revealed this month she had a benign brain tumour, a colloid cyst, which she described as “very rare”.
Instagram
This content is provided by Instagram, which may be using cookies and other technologies.
To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies.
You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enable Instagram cookies or to allow those cookies just once.
You can change your settings at any time via the Privacy Options.
Unfortunately we have been unable to verify if you have consented to Instagram cookies.
To view this content you can use the button below to allow Instagram cookies for this session only.
Looking bright, but with a visibly bruised left eye, McCall said: “My short-term memory is a bit remiss.
“But that is something I can work on, so I’m really happy about that. I’m writing everything down, to keep myself feeling safe.”
She added: “It’s been mad, and it’s just really nice to be back home, I’m on the other side.”
In a message posted with the video, she reiterated her thanks for all the support she has received, adding: “Had a great night’s sleep in my own bed. Have a couple of sleeps during the day which keeps my brain clear… Slowly, slowly…”
When she first shared her diagnosis, she said chances of having it were “three in a million” and that she had discovered it several months previously after a company offered her a health scan in return for giving a menopause talk.
The 57-year-old star said support from her fans had “meant the world”.
Advertisement
She said she was being “brilliantly looked after” by her partner, hairdresser Michael Douglas, and her stepmother, Gabby, who she calls mum.
Becoming tearful, the presenter said: “I’d quickly like to say big up the stepmums. I don’t really say thank you to Gabby enough. She’s been an amazing rock my whole life.”
McCall was estranged from her birth mother, Florence McCall, who died in 2008.
With a catch in her voice, McCall went on: “I’ve got a massive dose of vitamin G – I’m just really grateful. I’ve always been really lucky in my life, but I feel unbelievably grateful right now. So, thanks for everything, all of you.
“I’m on the mend, I’m resting and sleeping loads and I feel really good. I’m just very lucky.”
Stars including presenter Alison Hammond, singer Craig David and radio host Zoe Ball quickly shared their delight at the positive update.
McCall rose to fame presenting on MTV in the mid-1990s, and later on Channel 4’s Streetmate, before becoming a household name as the host of Big Brother from 2000 to 2010.
She’s gone on to present programmes across the networks, the most recent being ITV dating show My Mum, Your Dad.
Last year, McCall was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2023 Birthday Honours for services to broadcasting.
Married twice, McCall has three children, two daughters and a son, with her second husband, presenter Matthew Robertson.
She has lived with Douglas since 2022, and they present a weekly lifestyle podcast together, Making The Cut.
Barbara Taylor Bradford, the bestselling novelist who wrote A Woman Of Substance, has died at the age of 91.
The Leeds-born author, who sold more than 90 million books, died peacefully at her home on Sunday after a short illness and was “surrounded by loved ones to the very end”, a spokeswoman said.
Taylor Bradford, who was often labelled “the grand dame of blockbusters”, hit the big time when A Woman Of Substance was published in 1979, making her an overnight success.
The story sold millions of copies and traced the journey of Emma Harte from life as a servant in rural Yorkshire to heading a business empire.
The rags to riches story was followed by many other successful books with the author’s works being published in more than 40 languages across 90 countries.
Charlie Redmayne, chief executive of publisher HarperCollins, said the author was a “natural storyteller”, adding: “Barbara Taylor Bradford was a truly exceptional writer whose first book, the international bestseller A Woman Of Substance, changed the lives of so many who read it – and still does to this day.”
Taylor Bradford, who was made an OBE in 2007 for services to literature, wrote a total of 40 novels during her career – her most recent was The Wonder Of It All, published last year.
Born in May 1933 as the only child of Winston and Freda Taylor, she worked as a typist for the Yorkshire Evening Post before becoming a reporter and then the paper’s first woman’s editor.
At the age of 20, she moved to London and worked in Fleet Street for Woman’s Own and the London Evening News.
Advertisement
She met her husband, American film producer Robert Bradford, in 1961 and they married in London on Christmas Eve in 1963 before moving to New York the following year.
Adele has bid a tearful farewell to her Las Vegas residency show, as the Someone Like You star admitted she doesn’t know when she’ll perform again next.
The British singer-songwriter, 36, launched Weekends with Adele at Caesars Palace in November 2022 and performed her 100th show there on Saturday.
Her mammoth run of sell-out shows at the venue, which seats around 4,000 people, has been a success but has taken its toll.