The Australian actor Rebel Wilson has denied her grandmother made up a “lovely” but untrue story their family was related to the pioneering animator Walt Disney.

Wilson is suing Bauer Media, the publishers of Woman’s Day, for defamation over a series of articles she claims painted her as a liar and a fake, and allegedly wrecked her career.

Wilson claims she has never lied about her real name, age or childhood.

During cross-examination in the supreme court of Victoria on Monday, Wilson said she still believed Disney was her uncle by marriage – a claim the magazine articles had portrayed as a falsehood.

She said her grandmother had researched a family tree confirming the familial link to Disney’s wife Lillian Bounds and was “proud” to have the connection.

Wilson, 37, previously told the court she had visited Disneyland many times and is part of the secret, invitation-only Disneyland Club 33.

Bauer’s defence barrister, Georgina Schoff, said a genealogist had proved there was no familial connection and that Wilson’s grandmother had simply made up the story for a grandchild obsessed with Disney.

Also on Monday, Wilson denied she signed contracts for Hollywood movies in the months after Bauer Media allegedly defamed her.

Schoff said the contract for Pitch Perfect 3 was dated 17 September 2015, during the period the comic actress claims she could not land a leading role.

However, Wilson said she didn’t sign the contract until 2017 and that the document had been backdated to account for merchandising.

Schoff also claimed Wilson had been terminated from her role in Kung Fu Panda 3 before the articles were published in May 2015, an allegation the star denied.

Schoff said Wilson’s termination document from DreamWorks for the movie Trolls was dated 8 April, meaning she was fired well before the magazine articles were even published.

However, Wilson said movie studios often backdated contracts and that she was not terminated from Trolls until July 2015.

Wilson also said that even though she had tweeted in 2015 about starring in upcoming remakes of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels and Isn’t It Romantic, it was “positive thinking” from her team and there was no guarantee the projects would go ahead.