SYDNEY (AP) — Geoffrey Rush's wife has wept while telling a court how her husband cried and curled up in the fetal position after a newspaper alleged he'd behaved inappropriately toward a co-star.

Jane Menelaus, who's also an actor, cried while giving evidence in Sydney's Federal Court, where her Oscar-winning husband is suing the publisher of the Daily Telegraph newspaper and its journalist Jonathon Moran for defamation.

Menelaus said Rush had wept and said "this has destroyed everything" after the first of two Telegraph articles in November 2017, which alleged he'd acted inappropriately to his co-star. She was later revealed to be Eryn Jean Norvill. The misconduct allegedly occurred during the Sydney Theatre Company's production of King Lear in 2015 and 2016.

Rush denies all allegations against him.