Actor John Jarratt, who was cleared of historic rape charges on Friday, is suing the Daily Telegraph and journalist Jonathan Moran for defamation.

Jarratt, 66, was found not guilty of raping his housemate more than 40 years ago in a share house he lived in with his wife Rosa Miano.

The star of Wolf Creek testified that the sex with his housemate was consensual and denied he had held her down or ripped her clothes off.

“No man should have to go through what I have gone through,” Jarratt told reporters outside court as he hugged Miano.

One of Jarratt’s lawyers, Chris Murphy, revealed on Monday that the defamation proceedings he had filed in the NSW supreme court last year would proceed now the criminal matter had been resolved.

“The civil statement of claim was filed pending resolution of police charges,” Murphy said. “Documents will now be served on the defendant.” The defendant is Nationwide News, publisher of the Telegraph.

Jarratt is suing over the News Corp tabloid’s front-page story in 2017 headlined “Wolf Creek star in rape claim”.

Jarratt told the NSW district court that the first he heard of any rape allegation was when his agent rang him in November 2017 to tell him there was going to be a newspaper story.

Earlier this year the federal court ruled that the Daily Telegraph and Moran had defamed another well-known actor, Geoffrey Rush, by alleging he “engaged in inappropriate behaviour” towards the actor Eryn Jean Norvill during a theatre production of King Lear.

That front-page story, published under the headline “King Leer” in November 2017, reported the Sydney Theatre Company had received the anonymous complaint but provided no further details.

The Daily Telegraph is appealing against the record $2.9m judgment.

It is the largest ever defamation payout to a single person in Australia after the Victorian court of appeal last year slashed the actor Rebel Wilson’s damages payout from $4.5m to $600,000 over defamatory articles in Woman’s Day magazine.

7:00am The morning after. Engineering next move for innocent victim now plaintiff John Jarratt. pic.twitter.com/LKBmoiy9m2 — chris murphy (@chrismurphys) July 6, 2019

Jarratt has always maintained his innocence.

John Jarratt v Nationwide News is set down for mention on 18 August.