The messages are part of Amanda Ghost’s ongoing legal battle with Wilson over alleged websites targeting the film producer
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NEED TO KNOW
- Newly filed court documents obtained by PEOPLE reveal texts between Rebel Wilson and crisis publicist Melissa Nathan about a $110,000 “untraceable site”
- Wilson said she did not remember sending or receiving the messages but testified it “is possible” she did
- The texts are part of Amanda Ghost’s ongoing legal battle with Wilson over alleged websites targeting the film producer
Newly filed court documents reveal a text exchange in which crisis publicist Melissa Nathan quoted Rebel Wilson $110,000 for an “untraceable site” amid Wilson’s legal dispute with film producer Amanda Ghost.
The messages, which were produced in discovery and authenticated by Nathan during a deposition, were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Aug. 25 as part of Ghost’s ongoing lawsuit against Wilson and others, according to the motion to compel discovery obtained by PEOPLE.
In the Aug. 5, 2024 exchange, Nathan asked Wilson, “Are you on Signal?” Wilson initially responded, “No.” Nathan then sent Wilson a message outlining the proposed cost of an “untraceable site,” including a “satellite, ghost server, ghost hosting, full build, maintaining, and full algorithmic push across all platforms… for 3 months.”
Wilson then appeared to question the amount. “Wait – do you mean only $110 in total?” she allegedly wrote, according to the messages included in the court filing.
Nathan responded: “110,000. Sorry ! huge difference.”
The exchange became a focus of Wilson’s deposition last month. When shown the messages, Wilson said she was unsure what an “untraceable site” referred to.
“I’m not sure of what an untraceable site means,” she testified, according to the deposition transcript.
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When asked whether she remembered sending or receiving the messages, Wilson said, “I don’t recall sending or receiving these texts. I may have.”
She later reiterated that she could not remember whether she had sent or received them.
“But it’s possible you did?” the attorney asked.
“It is possible,” Wilson answered.
Wilson’s attorney, Allyson Thompson, pushed back on the latest filing in a statement shared with PEOPLE.
“Today’s motion filed by Amanda Ghost is, by its very nature, one-sided and thus incomplete,” Thompson said. “This case is in active litigation and involves thousands of documents and a large number of witnesses. Although we would love to comment in substance to the allegations, California ethical rules limit this.”
Wilson had also previously testified that she had never paid for a website.
“How much did the website cost?” she was asked during the deposition.
“I never paid for a website,” Wilson said.
The $110,000 figure is not established in the newly filed documents as a payment Wilson actually made. Ghost is seeking Wilson’s invoices and payment records from Nathan and her public relations company, The Agency Group PR (TAG), to determine whether the amount was paid and, if so, to whom.
The filing states that the $110,000 quote would have been separate from the regular monthly charges TAG billed Wilson.
Nathan and TAG have agreed to search for and produce nonprivileged invoices and payment records concerning amounts Wilson paid them, according to the filing.
The latest filing follows evidence presented in an ongoing proceeding in Australia involving Ghost and Wilson, alleging members of Wilson’s crisis PR team discussed plans to create websites targeting Ghost. Court filings in that case included a voice note in which digital strategist Jed Wallace discussed a strategy for publishing damaging claims about the producer, as well as messages among PR professionals about the websites.
In one recording introduced as evidence, Wallace allegedly discussed a strategy for targeting Ghost online.
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“So basically what we need to do is, we need to create a path where we expose Amanda Ghost,” Wallace said, according to a transcript of the recording reviewed by PEOPLE. He then described painting Ghost as “the new Heidi Fleiss” and alleged that “she’s actually getting hookers for Blavatnik,” according to the transcript.
“She’s an absolute madam and that’s why she’s so lethal, blah, blah, blah,” Wallace continued, according to the transcript. He also said the claims needed to be “really, really heavy and connected to something that heavy.”
Ghost has alleged that the websites were part of an effort to damage her reputation amid the legal dispute surrounding The Deb. Her lawsuit previously described the websites’ allegations as “unmistakably defamatory.”
Ghost’s attorney Camille Vasquez previously told PEOPLE that the evidence submitted contradicted Wilson’s past denials.
“Rebel Wilson has repeatedly denied any involvement in the creation of the smear websites — not just on television but in her sworn legal testimony,” Vasquez said. “We, however, had long suspected that she not only contributed to the malicious sites but that she was the driving force behind them. The evidence we have submitted to the court in California today supports that conclusion. This may not have been the writing credit she was seeking, but it is the one she deserves.”
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“Ms. Wilson has already prevailed in the first of three lawsuits relating to this dispute and looks forward to having the other matters resolved in her favor before the courts,” Thompson’s statement continued. “There are two sides to every story and Ms. Wilson looks forward to telling her side at the trial in this disputed matter.”
PEOPLE reached out to Nathan, who declined to comment.
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