Rebel Wilson made a startling revelation during a candid TV interview with BBC Breakfast this week.
The Aussie actress admitted her own team weren’t initially supportive of her ‘Year of Health’ journey last year, which led to her shedding over 30kg.
“I got a lot of pushback from my own team, actually, here in Hollywood, when I said, ‘OK, I’m going to do this ‘Year of Health’. I feel like I’m really going to physically transform and change my life,’” she said.
“And 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.”
Wilson said she had a positive body image prior to her transformation.
It was unhealthy habits that she wanted to address.
“I knew deep down inside that some of the emotional eating behaviours I was doing [were] not healthy,” she said.
Love Film & TV?
Get the latest Film & TV news, features, updates and giveaways straight to your inbox Learn more
“I did not need a tub of ice cream every night; that was me numbing emotions using food, which wasn’t the healthiest thing.”
Wilson had discussed how people’s perceptions of her had begun to change since her weight loss on The Morning Crew with Hughesy, Ed and Erin in January this year.
“I think what’s been really interesting is how other people treat you,” Wilson said.
“Sometimes being bigger, people didn’t necessarily look twice at you. Now that I’m in good shape, people offer to carry my groceries to the car and hold doors open for you.”
In the BBC preview, she poignantly asks, “So is that what a woman has to do in the world, is just lose weight to get attention?”
Her own perceptions hadn’t changed all that much.
“I liked to think I looked good at all sizes and stuff,” she told The Morning Crew at the start of the year.
“And I’ve always been quite confident, so it’s not like I wasn’t confident and now I’m super confident.”
Wilson recently stripped down to a swimsuit for Tourism Fiji’s ‘Open for Happiness‘ campaign – so “funny fat girl” may be out, but “blonde swimsuit babe” is in.
