“I had something that people would like to laugh at,” the actress told SiriusXM radio host Ben Harlum
Rebel Wilson is opening up about how her weight loss journey has impacted her professional life.
The Rebel Rising: A Memoir author, 45, recently spoke with SiriusXM radio host Ben Harlum about the pivot in her career since losing 80 pounds over five years ago.
“From that point, I started getting offered more serious roles,” she revealed, citing her upcoming role as Lady Capulet in Juliet & Romeo and her role in British indie, The Almond and the Seahorse.
“So I think I kind of untypecast myself by losing weight,” she confessed. “I mean, I loved being the bigger, funny girl.” Adding, “Loved playing Fat Amy in the Pitch Perfect movies. It was so cool, and that still is me in so many respects. I guess people … once I did lose weight, they started to see me a bit differently.”
She also revealed that when she set out to become an actress, she envisioned more dramatic roles. “I wanted to be like Dame Judi Dench and be really serious.”
“It’s just, I had something that people would like to laugh at, and then Nicole Kidman gave me this scholarship to come to America and specialize in comedy, and so that’s what I did,” she explained. “Then when I came to Hollywood, I was just the full comedy girl.”
“But now it’s kind of like almost going back to my roots as an actress and doing some serious stuff as well,” she said.
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In March 2024, she spoke with The Sunday Times about her weight loss journey and her a “year of health” in 2020. But she revealed, “Basically, no one apart from my mom wanted me to lose weight,” she said. “People thought I’d lose my pigeonhole in my career, playing the fat funny character, and they wanted me to continue in that.”
She also spoke about her brief experience with Ozempic. Wilson said she took the FDA-approved type 2 diabetes drug for maintenance after losing weight.
“Someone like me could have a bottomless appetite for sweets, so I think those drugs can be good,” the actress said, before noting that she no longer takes Ozempic.
That same month, the actress spoke with PEOPLE and revealed that she was an “emotional eater” and detailed the “emotional war” she experienced over her weight.
“I think to many people I’m a beacon of body positivity because I see people who are considered medically obese if you look at their weight, but I think they are absolutely beautiful,” she said. “I really think beauty is at any shape and size so I do really promote that.”
“So people are like, ‘Well, how can you be so body-positive and then be hating yourself?’ But I wasn’t hating myself, I was only hating those shameful behaviors,” she added.
