Rebel Wilson learned to have a better relationship with her body after losing more than 60 pounds.
“There’s no magic fix. I’d been on diets [and] I’ve been really good [about] exercising pretty much my entire life,” Wilson, 44, exclusively reveals in the latest issue of Us Weekly, while promoting her partnership with Zevo. “For me, it was the emotional element that I’d never looked at. I’d kind of been, like, ‘Emotions … Ugh, I don’t want to talk about things.’”
She continues, “It’s good to value yourself and be healthy, [but] you don’t have to be obsessive.”
The Pitch Perfect actress kickstarted her weight loss journey in 2020 to help her in vitro fertilization odds. A consultation with a fertility doctor was the catalyst for Wilson’s wellness overhaul.
“He was like, ‘Well, you’d have a much better chance of having a child if you were healthy,’” she recalls. “It kind of really hit a nerve, that [it] could prevent me from having a child.”
Wilson eventually welcomed daughter Royce, whom she shares with fiancée Ramona Agruma, via surrogate in November 2022. Wilson further documented her body issues in her Rebel Rising memoir, which was published in March 2024.
“I am just so proud of my life and all the things that I’ve gone through,” Wilson says. “I’m just at a point now where I can be really open. It’s kind of cathartic in a way to just put it all out there. And then now, I move on with the next chapters.”
During Wilson’s next chapter, she is also teaming up with Zevo for the launch of its Max Trap, which allows users to catch more bugs in more places.
“I have always had Bugs-xiety … [since] growing up in Australia, where we have a lot of bugs,” Wilson says. “But also, one of the biggest turning points, when I was 18, I got malaria. I woke up one morning in an African bush and I had like 100 mosquito bites on my face.”
She adds, “I was in hospital for two weeks. I could have died from it, it was very, very bad. … I also remember being in my mom’s house, and they’d always have little flying gnats around the fruit bowl and I always hated it. I don’t want any little bugs crawling around at home, especially after having a baby.”
Wilson talks more with Us about her journey below:
It’s been almost three months since your memoir was released. Did you expect this kind of success?
I thought when I was writing it, if I can just make 10 people who [are] struggling with some of the stuff I’ve struggled with feel less alone, it would be worth it. The fact that it became a New York Times bestseller [and] the audiobook has been going insane — it’s done really, really well. I’m always taken aback by how kind people are and how much different things resonate with different people.
Did you have any hesitations about being so honest in the book?
I was a little nervous. Then, obviously, I had an issue with one of the people who [hired] a high-price PR crisis firm to try to deny and discredit me in some ways.
(In her memoir, Wilson alleges that while working together on 2016’s The Brothers Grimsby, Sacha Baron Cohen asked her to perform a sexual act that was not scripted. Cohen, 52, denied Wilson’s claims.)
What was that like?
It wasn’t a great feeling when I told a truthful story about what happened.
Have any of the other celebs you mentioned reached out?
Nothing from Brad Pitt!
You’ve been open about struggling with body confidence and weight issues. What have you learned from it all?
There’s no magic fix. I’d been on diets. I’ve been really good [about] exercising pretty much my entire life. For me, it was the emotional element that I’d never looked at. I’d kind of been, like, “Emotions … Ugh, I don’t want to talk about things.”
Was there an experience that helped you better understand your relationship with your body and food?
The biggest one would be when I had this consultation with a fertility doctor. He was like, “Well, you’d have a much better chance of having a child if you were healthy.” It kind of really hit a nerve, that [it] could prevent me from having a child. I did have to go through this whole health journey in order to get my daughter, Royce.
What’s motherhood been like for you?
Every time she says “Mama,” I melt. But it’s just hard, and [I] just [have] massive respect to all the other mothers. Mine was a single mother with four children. Like, how did she do it?
What’s it like seeing Ramona as a mom?
Ramona’s a natural. I was like, “Babe, you’re way better than me!” She cooks Royce healthy meals from scratch. She’s the one who’s been getting up lately in the middle of the night. She’s just a hero.
You came out in 2022 when you shared your relationship with Ramona. Has the LGBTQ+ community been welcoming to you?
Honestly, even before I was in a same-sex relationship, I was an ally and had so many fans on the rainbow spectrum. [But] people are just great. I did not have one negative reaction — and I think that shows how things have changed. It’s such a different time now, and it’s just been a hugely positive thing.
For more from Wilson, pick up the new issue of Us Weekly, on newsstands now.
With reporting by Amanda Williams
