Brittany Higgins’ furious husband has blasted a controversial Aussie commentator as ‘vile’ after she weighed in on the couple’s plans to sell their French chateau ahead of an upcoming defamation trial

It was revealed on Monday that Ms Higgins plans to sell her chateau in the south of France ahead of her blockbuster defamation trial against her former boss Senator Linda Reynolds.

The former Liberal staffer and her new husband David Sharaz bought the rustic five-bedroom home in Lunas, in the country’s historic Dordogne region, last year for about $600,000.

They made the purchase about a year after Ms Higgins was awarded a $2.4million compensation payment from the Commonwealth based on claims her political career was in ruins following her rape in Parliament House in 2019.

Outspoken television commentator Prue MacSween couldn’t hide her delight as she mocked Ms Higgins after the latest development emerged on Monday.

‘Too smart by halves. Mon Dieu Higgins has to sell her French Chateau to pay for her mounting legal bills. C’est la vie,’ she tweeted.

Mr Sharaz leapt to his wife’s defence several hours later, firing off a furious tweet.

‘You are … vile,’ he captioned the retweet.

Mr Sharaz’s tweet sparked others to defend the couple and unleash on MacSween.

‘Why so bitter Prue? Is because you have been irrelevant for so many years now,’ one commented.

Another added: ‘You really are some sort of piece of work, Prune. I don’t even think the bowlo crowd would agree with your constant vitriol towards anyone who disagrees with your twisted point of view.’ 

A third wrote: ‘You’re a nasty person. Why do you derive such pleasure from being nasty to people. There’s not a compassionate bone in your body.’

Meanwhile, Ms Higgins also hit back on Monday night when she reacted to the headline of an online news article about the latest developments.

The headline ‘Brittany Higgins to sell French getaway’ was tweaked from getaway to ‘home’.

Her husband then shared his wife’s screenshot on Instagram. 

The latest move comes just seven months after Ms Higgins and Mr Sharaz fled to France to start a new life.

Daily Mail Australia understands the couple are now strapped for cash amid the ongoing defamation battle with Senator Linda Reynolds who is suing them both over a series of social media posts.

They have to cover the cost of defamation lawyers, who can charge more than $11,000 per day. If they lose, they would also have to cover Senator Reynolds’ legal fees – which means they could be slapped with legal bill worth more than $1million.

It is further understood they may be planning a move back to Australia, ahead of the birth of their first child.

Since her payout in 2022, the couple enjoyed a luxury rental home on the Gold Coast for a year, and went on a range of holidays to the Maldives, Europe, to the ski slopes in Australia, and Disneyland in Paris.

They flew back to the Gold Coast in May ahead of their wedding at The Valley Estate – a sprawling luxury venue on the Gold Coast – with the wedding rumoured to have cost more than $100,000.

Ms Higgins’ lace gown was a bespoke design by South Australia dressmaker Paolo Sebastian, which cost up to $30,000.

Last week, the couple announced on Instagram that Ms Higgins is pregnant. 

‘Can’t wait to meet you!’ she wrote in the caption.

‘Beyond excited to welcome a new member to our little family. Your parents are already obsessed with you and you aren’t even here yet.’

Mr Sharaz, 33, has not held a full-time job since he left his media role at Southern Cross Austereo in Brisbane in 2023, shortly after Ms Reynolds announced she was suing him.

Earlier this year, he waved the white flag and indicated he would not fight Ms Reynolds any more because he didn’t have the financial means. The matter has not been settled, but he conceded defeat.

Ms Reynolds matter against them is down for six-week hearing in the WA Supreme Court on August 2.

Talks to settle the matter have failed, with the court last week hearing that Senator Reynolds will see a copy of the Brittany Higgins Protective Trust to find out the trustee in the event of proceedings going in her favour.

The court heard Ms Higgins established the trust a day after she signed the deed of settlement with the Commonwealth of Australia in December 2022.

The settlement was part of a personal injury claim submitted by Ms Higgins over claims she had been sexually assaulted by her former colleague Bruce Lehrmann.

Martin Bennett, Ms Reynolds’ lawyer, told the court the trust was set up to protect Ms Higgins from any potential future creditors, including his client.

He said an article published in Daily Mail Australia on August 21, 2023, talked about how Ms Higgins had been running out of money when she received a ‘$3million lifeline’.

Mr Bennett said it was easy to draw an inference that the trust was created to protect Ms Higgins from creditors when a person had cried poor, then received a financial lifeline which was placed in a protective trust.

He said Ms Higgins must have known the potential for future action against her because of untruths she allegedly told the Commonwealth in her personal injury claim.

‘You do not need to be a creditor, it can be a future creditor, which falls squarely within the law,’ he told the court.

Ms Reynolds has made a complaint to the National Anti-Corruption Commission about the compensation payment made to Ms Higgins.

Her lawyer said the senator told the commission that the money should be given back to the Commonwealth and that she wanted a finding made against the people who authorised the ‘extraordinarily fast payment.’

Ms Higgins was awarded $2.445m in compensation by the government including $1.48m for loss of earning capacity for 40 years; $400,000 for hurt, distress and humiliation; $220,000 for medical expenses; $100,000 for domestic assistance; and $245,000 for legal costs.

She accused Ms Reynolds and Senator Michaelia Cash, who was her boss in 2020, of failing to properly support her in the wake of her rape. However, both senators were excluded from mediation talks with the Commonwealth. 

At the time, Ms Higgins’ rape claims had not been proven in court.

In April, more than a year after she won the claim, Federal Court Justice Michael Lee found that Mr Lehrmann had raped Ms Higgins, on a balance of probabilities.

He has launched an appeal. The first case management hearing is scheduled in the Federal Court in Sydney this Thursday.