(CNN) Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush has been awarded $2.9 million Australian dollars (over $1.9 million USD) after winning his defamation case against a Sydney newspaper publisher and journalist, CNN affiliate SBS News reported Thursday. Rush successfully sued The Daily Telegraph for defamation after it published allegations of abuse towards a co-star during a production of King Lear in Sydney between 2015 and 2016. The Australian newspaper reported that Rush had inappropriately touched his co-star's breasts and back, followed her into a bathroom and sent her an inappropriate text message, accusations which the actor denied. Last month, federal court judge Justice Wigney ruled the paper had been "extravagant and reckless" in its reporting. "This was a recklessly irresponsible piece of sensational journalism of the worst kind," Wigney said of two articles published about Rush in 2017.

Source: CNN May 23, 2019 10:13 UTC