Rebel Wilson landed this year’s BAFTA Film awards presenting gig two years after she stole the show with her hilarious Best Director nomination speech.
The star of Bridesmaids, Pitch Perfect and Hustle is relishing the opportunity.
“I think it’s a real honour. I’m Australian, but obviously have British heritage,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.
“So when BAFTA asked me I was really honoured, because I didn’t think they’d let a non-Brit do it.”
BAFTA banter
Back in 2020, Rebel stole the snooty awards show when she treated the swanky audience that included Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to a three -minute comedy monologue.
Among the gems she spouted was a joke that poked fun at the all-male category she was presenting, admitting “I just don’t have the balls”.
The other side-splitter was when she explained that in aid of sustainability she’d sewn two old dresses together.
One she’d worn when she didn’t win Miss Australia and the other worn to a funeral she had just gone to – for the movie Cats!
Of course, Rebel Wilson, who’s also been making headlines for dropping 80lbs since 2020, is best known for making the world laugh in side-splitting comedies.
But did you know that she is also a lawyer?
And that she decided to pursue acting seriously after having a malaria-induced hallucination?
Well, read on and find out more.
Is Rebel really Australian?
Yes, cobber, she is! She was born on March 2, 1980 in Sydney, New South Wales, to Australian parents who were both professional dog handlers.
She grew up in suburbs of Kenthurst where she attended the Tara Anglican School for Girls.
It was there that she completed her Higher School Certificate in 1997 with an achievement of ranking second place in the state for Food Technology and having a rank of 99.3.
She was encouraged by her teachers to join the Tournament of Minds which made her come out of her shell as she was incredibly shy.
However, in spite of her shyness, Rebel forced herself to become more sociable.
“I had read somewhere that if you don’t cement your personality by age 15, that’s it, you are going to be like that for the rest of your life,” she said.
“[I thought] ‘oh my God I am like 14’. If I don’t change I am going to be this way – this very shy girl who gets red in the face when she has to answer a question.”
She says she had to work hard to be sociable, but eventually gained a reputation for being a bit of a character.
“I think I really had to work on that side of things. I deliberately went out and tried to make friends,” she said.
“You just try every day. And then I kind of became known as a bit of a cheeky character around here.”
What made Rebel Wilson famous?
Although she appeared in numerous TV shows back home in Australia, it was only when she moved to America that her Hollywood career kicked off.
“Bridesmaids was my first job in America,” she told BBC Breakfast. “And to be in the Pitch Perfect franchise, which are the most successful musical comedy films of all time, blows my mind.”
While Rebel has gone on to be a big player in Hollywood, not only acting but writing, producing and soon to be directing, she admits that she had to take a big risk to get there, especially as she felt it might be harder for her in her thirties.
Taking a gamble on Hollywood
“When I was 29, 30, I had great career at that point in Australia,” she told the BBC.
“Then I got offered a big network TV contract in Australia and I was like if I don’t go now to Hollywood I’ll never make it.
“So I sold everything that I owned – my car, my computer, my apartment, everything. I came to America with one suitcase and one little pillow.”
Although she says she was a little overqualified for the small role she had in Bridesmaids, she understands it was the role that opened important doors to her.
Since then she has appeared in many box office smashes including Hustle and Isn’t It Romantic, both of which she produced, A Night At The Museum: Secret Of The Tomb, and, er, Cats.
She has also returned to the small screen to host the original version of dog grooming competition series Pooch Perfect on Australian TV, that was remade in the UK with Sheridan Smith.
Read more: Rebel Wilson freezes her eggs as a “back-up plan”
How did Rebel Wilson get started?
Rebel was a bit of a brain box at school and in Grade 12 her hard work paid off, with Wilson scoring a near-perfect result of 99.3 per cent on her Higher School Certificate.
Her mum Sue was keen for her to become a lawyer, but acting was Rebel’s dream.
“I was a very studious young lady so they definitely thought I would do something a more traditional type job,” she said.
However, it was when she took a gap year and was youth ambassador for Australia in Southern Africa that changed the trajectory of her life.
While working in rural Mozambique she contracted malaria and while recovering form it had an hallucination that she was an actress.
“It was so real,” she remembers. “Everyone thought, no, she’s just demented, but that was enough to convince me that’s what my life was going to be.
“So I came back to Australia and I said, ‘guys I’m going to become a professional actress. I’ve seen it. I’m gonna win an Academy Award’.
“And everyone was like ‘Oh my God, you’re an idiot. No one’s going to pick you, like you’re not an actress, you’re a naturally shy person’.
“I was like, but I’ve seen the vision so went and enrolled in law school but did acting sneaky at night to try to get in there.”
However, Rebel continued her law studies and graduated before she set off to Hollywood!
How much is Rebel Wilson worth?
Rebel is worth $22million from all the film and TV work she has done since 2011 when Bridesmaids came out.
Not bad going for someone who had little money as she tried her hardest to get her big break.
“When I moved to America I had to start all over,” she said.
“It was a huge financial risk, and I remember selling everything I owned to fund coming to America.
“I started from nothing, and I remember living on about $60 a week for a year, until Bridesmaids came out, and I got consistent work after that.”
Who is Rebel Wilson dating?
Rebel split from brewery heir Jacob Busch in February 2021 with a post on Instagram referring to herself as “single”.
Their split came as a shock to fans as they had been pictured together shortly before the news.
Rebel and Jacob first met through mutual friends in 2019 but only went Instagram official in 2020.
However, Rebel did let slip last year she was enjoying dating again.
“I’ve seen a few people over the summer and I had a really nice time,” she told People magazine, adding she was “currently single and looking for the right person”.
She added: “From every relationship, you learn stuff all about yourself and what you’re looking for. “I haven’t quite met my match just yet, but here’s hoping… We’ll see.”
Rebel has recently been rumoured to be dating Australian tennis player Matt Reid after they spotted lunching at a café in Sydney, Australia, on Christmas Eve.
They were first linked when they attended the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards together in Sydney in early December.
Was Rebel always happy with her plus-size weight?
Rebel is the first to admit that her weight has helped her land a lot of comedy roles over the years – she even launched a plus-size fashion range thanks to it.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently she said that as a comedian “you use things about your physicality to your advantage, and I used being a plus-size girl to my advantage in many comedy movies.”
She discovered this when she was cast alongside a woman back in Australia who was bigger than her and was getting more laughs.
“I was like, ‘oh, that girl’s getting a lot of laughs, a lot easier than me,” she told The Telegraph in 2016. “What is it?’ Because I don’t think there’s much difference in talent.
“And I remember distinctly thinking, ‘I think it’s because she’s fatter’. And then, I don’t know if it was mega-conscious, but I thought, ‘how can I get more laughs? Maybe if I was a bit fatter…’ And then suddenly I was fatter and doing comedy.”
Rebel has also claimed that film bosses paid her more money so that she would maintain her curvy size, telling The Sun: “I had a job where I was paid a lot of money to be bigger, at times it kind of can mess with your head a bit.”
Dismissive behaviour as a larger woman
Rebel has said that being a larger girl in Hollywood sometimes led to feeling like she was “invisible”.
“I know what it’s like to be a woman who is essentially invisible…when no one holds the door for you, or just looks at you like you almost have no value because you’re not seen as good looking to them,” she said in her BBC interview.
She added: “I’m proud that the message that I got across wasn’t about just losing weight. It was about me being healthier overall.
“And that’s why I’m trying to encourage other people out there because that should be the goal – you should never feel like you have to fit some weird beauty standard that society deems is the beauty standard of the year. It should never be about that.”
However, when she did start losing weight, and her own team’s reaction surprised her.
“I got a lot of pushback from my own team actually, here in Hollywood,” she revealed.
“They were like, ‘Why? Why would you want to do that?’ Because I was earning millions of dollars being the funny fat girl and being that person.”
Why and when did Rebel Wilson start to lose weight?
At the start 2020, Rebel decided to embark on a year of health.
“Turning 40, I wanted to concentrate on my health,” she told BBC Breakfast. “I was dealing with fertility stuff and the doctors were like ‘well, yeah if you’re healthier you have better chances.’
“So that all culminated and the moment hit in 2020 – it was like ‘OK, it’s going to be my year of health and I put on instagram for accountability. I wanted to make a lasting change, so making it public made it easier.”
“I knew deep down inside that some of the emotional eating behaviours I was doing were not healthy. Didn’t need a tub of ice cream every night. That was me numbing my emotions with food, which was not the healthiest thing.”
Does Rebel Wilson have children?
Not currently, although she has spoken of her desire to be a mum. The actress has opened up on her fertility journey as a hopeful parent over 40.
Last October she explained: “I’ve been going through a fertility journey for the past two years and I’m hoping at some point I may have a family of my own.
“But it’s still a bit unclear whether that’ll be the case. I feel like (it’s) not over yet. It’s kind of an emotional roller coaster.
“But I’ve been trying my best, so whatever will be, will be.”
She has talked an Instagram Live session in 2020 about her decision to freeze her eggs.
“As all good career women out there should know, if that’s something that interests you, it’s a pretty good time to do it,” she said. “Getting to your 40s is kind of even leaving it a little too late. It’s better to do it a bit earlier if you can.”
How much weight has Rebel lost?
Over the course of the year, Rebel managed to shed a whopping 5.5stone and admits shocked at the reactions she had to her weight loss.
“I’ve noticed that it’s been getting a lot of attention…is that what a woman has to do in the world, lose weight to get attention?” she reflected.
“For me it was about being the healthiest version of me – it wasn’t about size or a number or whatever. But it’s fascinating! Why are people so obsessed with it?”
“In 2019, I had four pretty successful movies come out and had done all of this other amazing stuff career-wise.
“But then in the next year, all I did was lose 80 pounds. And the attention that gets, is way more than being in a film, producing a movie and all of that stuff.”
Rebel’s regrets over her health
While her transformation opened her up to new dramatic roles, she admits that she feels ‘sad’ that she waited until the age of 40 to embrace a healthier lifestyle.
“Now that I know I can do it, sometimes I feel sad that I didn’t do it earlier,” she told InStyle, admitting she wished she’d “tried when I was 30, not 40”.
“But everybody’s journey is different, and it’s not a race or competition,” she told the magazine.
“I have a natural empathy for anyone who struggles with weight issues because that’s something I’ve always struggled with.”
How did she lose the weight?
In order to help herself slim down she enlisted the help of celebrity personal trainer Jono Castano Acero.
A typical week will see her work on high-intensity interval training (HIIT), mobility, weights, resistance, technique and tempo, and she has just one day of rest.
Read more: How did Rebel Wilson lose weight?
Where does she live?
She has homes in Sydney, LA and now in London.
“I have actually bought an apartment in London,” she has said. “I love working over there.
“It actually seems like so many Brits are immigrating to Australia. But some of my ancestors were convicts and shipped off to Australia.”
Watch Rebel Wilson present the BAFTAs on BBC1 on Sunday, March 13 at 7pm.
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