Geoffrey Rush admits he may have touched Eryn Jean Norvill's breast but not groped her

HOLLYWOOD star Geoffrey Rush admitted he may have called an actress in King Lear “scrumptious” and “yummy” during rehearsals for the play, a court heard on Wednesday.

The Pirates Of The Caribbean star said he might have called his female co-star “yummy”, saying the word “has a spirit to it”.

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While he denied groping the actress, he admitted he may have “accidentally” touched her breast.

The actress was later named as Eryn Jean Norvill, who The Daily Telegraph reported lodged a complaint with the Sydney Theatre Company over his “inappropriate behaviour”.

Ms Norvill is expected to give evidence in the 67-year-old’s defamation trial against the newspaper.

The paper’s barrister Tom Blackburn SC asked Mr Rush if he told Ms Norvill “you’re looking very scrumptious today” during rehearsals in late 2015.

“I don’t recall saying that but I may have said that,” Mr Rush told the Federal Court. “I was always in a very chirpy mood.”

Ms Norvill played Cordelia — daughter of Mr Rush’s character King Lear whose “lifeless” body he carried on stage before caressing her in grief.

Mr Rush denied deliberately tracing his fingers across Ms Norvill’s breast, saying he had wanted to feel the silhouette of her character’s lifeless torso, adding it was “the interior of my palms wanting to feel the loss of her soul”.

“Did a thumb accidentally touch the lower part of her chest? Possibly. I wasn’t monitoring this with detachment,” Mr Rush said.

Later in the day, his wife Jane Menelaus broke down in tears saying he “doesn’t wish to act again” after the articles were published on November 30 and December 1 last year.

His solicitor Nick Pullen filed a sworn affidavit with the court in April claiming Mr Rush was “virtually housebound” as a result of the articles.

Under cross-examination, the Melbourne-based actor agreed that this year he had travelled to the US, Italy, the UK and South Australia.

Mr Rush told the court this year he had spent two weeks in Umbria on holiday, eight days in London which included trips to the theatre and to restaurants with friends, a trip to Los Angeles to attend the Screen Actors Guild awards and three days at the Adelaide Festival.

Mr Rush denies any wrongdoing and claims two front-page articles in the newspaper about the alleged incident painted him as a “pervert” and “sexual predator”.

Ms Menelaus said she found her weeping, sleepless husband in the foetal position in bed some nights after the articles first hit the stands.

“I saw a man so altered and changed. His eyes sunk into his head, he retreated very much from the world,” she said. “We were losing him.”

Ms Menelaus said her husband of 30 years felt their kids didn’t believe him or love him as much and were “pulling away”.

The paper submits the articles are based on allegations made by Ms Norvill to the STC and are true.

King Lear director Neil Armfield is expected to give evidence today.

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