Why Wendy Williams and Hilary Duff Were Just Sued for Slander

Younger star Hilary Duff and talk show host Wendy Williams are being sued for slander by photographer Darryl Wilkins. According to court documents procured by The Blast, Wilkins is suing Duff and Williams for libel and slander after Duff allegedly called him a child predator and Williams repeated that claim on her talk show.

The incident occurred on Feb. 22, 2020, when Duff confronted Wilkins in the park where her seven-year-old son Luca was playing soccer and demanded that he stop photographing the child. She 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!”

Wilkins claims that he was merely testing out new photography equipment, while Duff claims that he was photographing children. Williams repeated the claims in a segment on The Wendy Williams Show. Wilkins is targeting Duff “for allegedly accusing him of reprehensible and despicable conduct including by innuendo that he was a child predator,” and he includes Williams for repeating the allegedly slanderous accusation to a large audience.

Wilkins claims that 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.” Due to the public accusations, he claims that he has suffered a loss in professional standing and access to work. 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.”

Duff and Williams are facing general, specific, and punitive damages for their alleged malice, oppression, and fraud, as Wilkins claims that they knew their statements were false but made them in order to damage his personal and professional reputation.