Lisa Wilkinson is accused of ‘playing the victim’ in a speech announcing that she will be leaving The Project

Lisa Wilkinson has come under fire for her speech as she left The Project, with a media commentator accusing her of playing the victim.

The divisive presenter stunned viewers on the Sunday night show when she announced she was stepping down to redefine her life after six tumultuous months.

“The past six months have not been easy, and the relentless targeted toxicity of certain sections of the media has taken its toll, not just on me, but on the people I love,” she said.

But Australian media editor Sophie Elsworth said most of the media attacks were “her own fault”, including delaying the trial of Brittany Higgins’ alleged rapist Bruce Lehrmann because of his Logies acceptance speech .

Wilkinson won a Logie for her interview with Brittany Higgins, in which the ex-Liberal staffer alleged she was raped by colleague Bruce Lehrmann at a minister’s office in 2019.

The original trial date was set for June 27, but following Wilkinson’s acceptance speech, a judge delayed the high-profile case, ruling it would be ‘unfair’ to continue amid public commentary surrounding the ‘affair.

“Lisa Wilkinson, in typical fashion, has gone all out and played the victim,” Ms Elsworth told Sky News’ Chris Kenny on Monday night.

“She made headlines in June for this speech that we know she gave at the Logies which was problematic, which is why she mainly made headlines.

“But she took last night’s exit from The Project to slam the media on her way out.”

Kenny said Wilkinson’s outgoing post was “weird” and said she seemed to “blame other media for her mistakes.”

“She’s very good at playing the victim, and she did it really well last night,” Ms Elsworth added.

“All of her fans are saying how shockingly the media treated her, but I have to say a lot of it was caused by her own action.”

Last year, OzTAM ratings revealed Channel 10’s flagship news program had lost almost a third of its audience since 2011. Pictured (L-R): Tommy Little, Peter Helliar, Hamish Macdonald , Carrie Bickmore, Waleed Aly, Lisa Wilkinson and Gorgi Coghlan

Australian media writer Sophie Elsworth accused Wilkinson of ‘playing the victim’ in her exit speech

Wilkinson, who has been a familiar face on Australian screens for more than 20 years, told the audience on Sunday night that she had “exciting work ideas coming up” but needed time to regroup.

She promised other high profile female journalists – Leigh Sales, Tracey Grimshaw and Carrie Bickmore – who had recently stepped down from presenting roles a margarita on her as she announced she would be leaving The Project.

“I’ve decided it’s time to reprioritize some things in my life,” Wilkinson began to say alongside co-hosts Hamish Macdonald and The Bachelor’s Laura Byrne.

“And after almost 15 years of early breakfast television alarm, and now another five years here at the project office, I look at how I want the years to come to unfold both professionally and personally.

Wilkinson won a Logie for outstanding news coverage for an interview with Brittany Higgins

“So, starting tonight, I’m retiring from hosting the show.”

The host added that she “wasn’t above criticism” and sometimes made mistakes.

“I’m human and I don’t always succeed, none of us do, but by God I tried,” she said.

“I gave this job everything I had, and I hope you at home know that.

“I hope I brought you stories that matter and introduced you to people whose lives and experiences might never have been told otherwise, and helped bring issues to light that deserve our collective attention.

“So to everyone who has been so incredibly supportive and reaching out, especially over the past few months, thank you. You will never know how much that meant to me.

Wilkinson was signed by Ten for a staggering $1.7 million a year in 2018.

However, her appearance on the show did little to stop the ratings decline.

OzTAM ratings previously revealed that The Project had lost almost a third of its viewership since 2011.

The struggling show saw its Metro ratings drop to an all-time high of just 367,000 last year.

That’s a 30% drop from its five-city audience of 538,000 a decade earlier.