FORMER entertainer Don Burke is being sued for defamation by a woman who accused the celebrity gardener of sexually harassment last year.

Wendy Dent alleged that Mr Burke had asked her to audition topless for a segment on his popular show, Burke's Backyard.

However, Mr Burke denied the claims in an interview on Channel Nine's A Current Affair, telling host Tracy Grimshaw: "These things didn't happen".

Ms Dent alleges Mr Burke had defamed her through the implication she lied about the accusation.

A statement of claim filed in court alleges Ms Dent had been, "greatly injured in her credit, reputation and occupation and has been brought into public scandal, odium and contempt".

It also claimed that Mr Burke had made "deliberately false attribution of blame to herself [Ms Dent] and his other victims".