Journalist taking Wilson to court over Twitter rant

Wilson has lawyered-up after being served with a lawsuit for defamation. Photo /Getty

Rebel Wilson is learning the importance of checking your facts before tweeting after being slammed with a lawsuit from an Australian journalist.

The Pitch Perfect star is being sued for defamation after she called out the wrong Elizabeth Wilson on Twitter calling her "total scum".

One of Wilson's defamatory tweets she is being sued for. Photo / Twitter

Back in February, a journalist called Elizabeth Wilson went doorknocking at Rebel's grandmother's house looking for a story.

According to the actress, her grandmother isn't in the best of health which made Rebel even more furious when she found out the journalist had come to her grandmother's house looking for a story.

Rebel went on a Twitter tirade, calling Elizabeth Wilson 'a disgrace,' and even posted a headshot of the journalist branding her as 'total scum'.

A pixelated headshot of the wrongfully-accused Elizabeth Wilson taken from her LinkedIn profile. Photo / Twitter

The problem was, Rebel had the wrong Elizabeth Wilson.

The woman Rebel accused is instead the features editor for Bauer Media's House and Garden Magazine.

With more than 2.5 million Twitter followers, Rebel's tweets went far and wide and the wrongfully-accused Elizabeth was hit with a barrage of Twitter hate and cyber bullying.

News.com.au attempted to contact Elizabeth back in February when the original tweets were sent out but "were told she was so distressed by the incident that she had left for the day."

Elizabeth is now suing the actress for damages and aggravated damages, however Rebel has hired a legal team to fight the lawsuit arguing only a small portion of her followers are based in Australia and she corrected the tweets less than three hours later.

Wilson is furious with the How To Be Single star claiming she took days to clear up the accusation, and said she is yet to receive a proper apology from Rebel.

The editor, in her statement of claim to the NSW Supreme Court said the actress called her a "low, despicable and worthless person" who "repeatedly harasses people."

Rebel Wilson is seen on September 06, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. Photo / Getty

The journalist who actually went doorknocking was experienced freelance reporter Elizabeth Wilson who told the Daily Telegraph Rebel's grandmother happily gushed about her famous granddaughter, and later followed up with two pleasant phone conversations.

According to the Daily Telegraph, in NSW the losing party in defamation suits can be ordered to pay up to $2 million to cover legal costs and damages.