[6] After tripling the circulation at Dolly, she was personally approached by Kerry Packer to become editor of Australian Consolidated Press women's lifestyle magazine, Cleo.

[13][14][15] Wilkinson's television career began in the late 1990s when she became a regular panelist on Network Ten and Foxtel's Beauty and the Beast.

[20] On 16 October 2017, Wilkinson resigned from the Nine Network and Today due to a contract dispute with management over the significant gender pay gap that existed between her and long-time co-host Karl Stefanovic.

[34][36] In October 2021, Wilkinson was for the second time named a finalist in the Walkley Awards, for her interview with political staffer Brittany Higgins[37] in which she alleged being raped on Federal Government Minister Linda Reynold's office couch in 2019.

[38] That story led to a full cultural review by Federal Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Kate Jenkins, into the workplace treatment of women in Parliament House.

[50] The subsequent publicity generated from Wilkinson's speech caused lawyers for the man awaiting trial in this matter to lodge an application to temporarily stay proceedings.

[51] On 21 June 2022, lawyers for the accused argued that Wilkinson's "speech did not need to be made" and the ACT Chief Justice Lucy McCallum granted the man's application.

[52] Commenting on Wilkinson's speech, Chief Justice McCallum said, "What concerns me most about this recent round is that the distinction between an allegation and a finding of guilt has been completely obliterated".

[53] Her Honour further stated that, "The implicit premise of [Wilkinson's speech was] to celebrate the truthfulness of the story she exposed" before any finding of guilt, and in the context of the accused denying that "any sexual activity took place".

[56] In 2023, Bruce Lehrmann launched a defamation suit against Wilkinson, Samantha Maiden, Network 10, and News Corp and subsequently the ABC.