*Hilary Duff and Wendy Williams are reportedly being sued for slander by photographer Darryl Wilkins.
According to court documents obtained by The Blast, Wilkins is suing the actress for allegedly calling him a child predator, which Williams repeated on her popular daytime talk show.
The drama started a few months back when Duff shared a video on social media showing her confronting the paparazzo while she was playing with her kids in a park. Williams also shared the clip on her show.
“I’m not asking for your ID. I’m asking you to stop taking pictures of our 7-year-old children if you don’t know anyone that’s here,” Duff said in the video. The incident occurred on Feb. 22, 2020. “I’m asking you human to human, as a mother, if you don’t know anyone here, can you please stop taking pictures of our children playing football this morning.”
Duff recorded the incident and posted it on her Instagram account with the caption: “Paparazzi shooting KIDS. Go ‘practice’ your photography on ADULTS! Creep! Laws need to change! This is stalking minors! Disgusting!”
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Wilkins claims he was simply testing his new photography equipment, while Duff believes he was actually photographing children.
‘Well, I’m taking pictures. I’m practicing photography and I’m not here to scare you or anything like that. Your paranoia is unwarranted,” he said.
Wilkins is suing Duff for defamation – and Wendy for airing the footage on her talk show.
In his lawsuit, he accused her of “reprehensible and despicable conduct including by innuendo that he was a child predator.”
Wilkins claims Duff’s accusations were “false statements because Wilkins is not a pedophile or child predator and was attempting to take photographs as a photographer and not as a paparazzi or stalker or with mal intent or evil wrongdoing.”
According to Wilkins’s suit, Duff and Williams “allegedly accuse him of being a sexual deviant and predator such as to directly injure him in respect to his profession.”
The suit claims that Duff and Williams “allegedly knew it was probable that participants in social media, talk show, and news media would republish the alleged statements and altercation, and that the publication was seen and read by persons who reside throughout the United States.”
Wilkins is seeking compensation for damages, though it remains unclear exactly how much.
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