‘When I got married, I didn’t change my name’: Brittany Higgins on identity, survival, and defamation

In the documentary Silenced, which opened the Sydney Film Festival, former Liberal staffer Brittany Higgins reveals she chose not to change her surname after marrying in 2024, because she is proud of her identity. The film examines how defamation cases are used globally to silence women reporting gender-based violence.

“When I got married I had this opportunity to change my name but I didn’t, because I’m really proud to be Brittany Higgins. Hopefully, this is just a footnote in my story and it’s not the headliner any more.”

Higgins attended the red carpet alongside Australian barrister Jennifer Robinson, who represented Amber Heard in the defamation case brought by Johnny Depp. Heard also appears in the film, based on Robinson’s book How Many More Women?

The case that shook Parliament House

Since 2021, when Higgins alleged she was raped by a colleague on a minister’s couch in Parliament House in 2019, her name has been frequently in the media.

The allegation led to a trial against Bruce Lehrmann in the Australian Capital Territory, which was aborted due to juror misconduct. Lehrmann denied the allegations. The ACT prosecutor Shane Drumgold dropped the case following medical advice regarding Higgins.

Lehrmann later sued Network 10 and journalist Lisa Wilkinson for defamation. He lost, with the federal court finding on the balance of probabilities that he raped Higgins.

A toll on mental health

Higgins described the impact of the legal processes on her mental health.

“There was a point where I almost took my life, because I didn’t want to do it any more,” she said of the criminal trial. “The police, luckily, intervened.”

In 2023, Higgins and her husband David Sharaz left Australia. Media located them in France, where Higgins reported feeling unsafe.

“We had a line of journos waiting for me to leave the house. I physically didn’t feel safe. There were threats to kill my dog.”

The final legal avenue closes

Lehrmann’s final legal avenue to challenge the defamation loss was dismissed by the High Court in April 2024.

Higgins, now a mother, said:

“It’s going to take a while to fully feel OK again. But we’re getting there.”