Rebel Wilson is being exceedingly candid about her experiences in Hollywood. After calling her Brothers Grimsby co-star Sacha Baron Cohen “a massive asshole,” the actor is sharing more details about her personal and professional life in her memoir Rebel Rising, revealing that an agent once discouraged her from losing weight and that she believes pop star Adele “hates” her.
In an interview with the New York Times, Wilson addressed her weight loss journey, which she says began approximately 5 years ago when the actress weighed 225 lbs. After visiting a fertility doctor who suggested that her weight at that time might make it more difficult to retrieve eggs, Wilson told the Times that she informed her agent that she planned to “get healthier.” The actor’s decision was not met with support.
“The agency liked me fat because they got hundreds of thousands of dollars in commission for each film where I played the fat funny girl,” writes Wilson in her memoir. According to Wilson, she felt trapped in “multimillion-dollar pigeonhole” due to her size—a fear that turned out to have some truth to it. While appearing on the podcast Call her Daddy in 2023, Wilson said that her Pitch Perfect 3 contract stipulated that she was not allowed to gain or lose more than 10 pounds.
Nevertheless, Wilson got healthier and ultimately had a baby girl named Royce in November of 2022 via surrogate. She told the Times that her lower weight has jeopardized her relationship with some of her fans. “There were some people that were like, ‘Oh, we don’t think she’s funny anymore,’ or, ‘Now she’s lost me as a fan because I can’t relate to her anymore,” she said. However, Wilson believes that her detractors will find understand why she went on this weight-loss journey if they read Rebel Rising, which hit stands on April 2nd. “Obviously I have a sweet tooth. That’s my vice,” Wilson said. “And in times of stress, I’d been dealing with it by eating. I don’t think that will ever, ever go away.”
Wilson has also opened up about the perceived bad blood between herself and Grammy-winning pop sensation Adele. In her memoir, Wilson explains why she thinks the British singer-songwriter doesn’t care for her: “Some actresses would get offended if I called them plus-size in this book, so I have to be careful with what I say,” writes Wilson. “This is why, I think, Adele hates me.”
According to Wilson, she and Adele have crossed paths at a few events over the years. From Wilson’s perspective, Adele would “always quickly” turn away if she saw the Pitch Perfect star, avoiding her “as if my fatness might rub off on her if I were near her for more than thirty seconds,” she writes. “That she didn’t like being compared to ‘Fat Amy.’”
Wilson believes this is why Adele is reticent to be seen with her in public. “There was a moment when she was bigger, and some people would confuse us for one another,” she writes in Rebel Rising. But Wilson is also careful to note that this is all conjecture, adding “I am assuming, because to be fair I’ve never asked her.” Vanity Fair has reached out to Adele for comment.
As for Cohen, Wilson has not minced words when describing working with the Borat actor, calling their 2016 action-comedy film, The Brothers Grimsby, the “worst professional experience of my career.” In her New York Times interview, Wilson continued to speak out against Cohen. She addressed her repeated claim that Cohen pressured her to stick her finger in his butt while filming a scene, as well as The Daily Mail‘s recently released, never-before-seen footage of a sex scene from The Brothers Grimsby, which the U.K. outlet claims casts doubt that she was pressured into filming the scene.
“I’m sure they’re never going to release the iPhone footage of him asking me to do it, to insert my finger up his ass, and me saying, “No, why are you doing this? Why are you asking me to do this? Where’s the director?,” Wilson told the Times. ”Of course they are not going to release that footage.”
Cohen has repeatedly denied Wilson’s claims to Vanity Fair via a representative. “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby,” said a representative in a statement.
Wilson is reportedly not surprised by Cohen’s response. “Just knowing his character, I obviously expected that,” she told the Times. “I knew he wasn’t going to take it, proverbially, ‘lying down.’ This is not about canceling someone. It’s part of my story — my memoir. And I’m allowed to write about what happened to me, and how that made me feel.”
More Great Stories From Vanity Fair
Anne Hathaway on Tuning Out the Haters and Embracing Her True Self
The Confessions of an Art Fraudster Extraordinaire
The Best TV Shows of 2024, So Far
Were the Kate Middleton Conspiracies Part of a Kremlin Campaign?
The Evolving Power of the Princess of Wales
From the Archive: The Fatal Mauling of the Man Who Loved Grizzlies (2004)
Stay in the know and subscribe to Vanity Fair for just $2.50 $1 per month.
The post Rebel Wilson Thinks Adele “Hates” Her, Feared Weight Loss Would Hurt Her Career appeared first on Vanity Fair.