Below the Hollywood sign, you’ll find a little bit of L.A. Greenery. Griffith Park is a peaceful place, despite the noise around it. However, for Rebel Wilson when she moved to Los Angeles from Australia in 2010, the idea that she would hike these trails seemed strange. 

“Being big, I wondered who would enjoy walking up the hill?” She laughed.

She has always been proud of her weight. Wilson is famous for her “Pitch Perfect” role. How could she be anything else? “That was really the one that really changed my life, and actually made me lots of money – I shouldn’t say that!” She laughed.

Her talent, and not her size, was what made her a standout. “Bridesmaids”, her breakthrough film, was a huge success. Six movie offers came in two weeks following the release of “Bridesmaids”. She was a sure-fire, and her friends wanted to make sure that she stayed on her path.  “My agents had been against [my] “They think they are losing weight,” she said. Well, you’ve got such a pigeonhole that is such a valuable pigeonhole – being the fat, funny girl – so we don’t really want you to lose that.“

It changed her relationship to food The following are some examples of how to get started: Fame is both contradictory and complicated. “People would see my confidence as a big girl. [who] Wilson said that she didn’t appear to be limited by her size. “But what they wouldn’t know is that after a film premiere, I would come home and eat a few brownies, a few cupcakes, and then a large plate of ice-cream, and then feel terrible about it.”

Wilson is about reveal one of many sobering truths in her book, “Rebel Rising,” this week. She said: “If you’re writing a memoir, it’s best to share everything.”

The book begins where she left off, as a young Melanie Elizabeth Bownds who was having trouble making friends. She recalls that when she was in elementary, she would eat her lunch in the restroom. “Yeah because I was so shy,” she said. “The thought of talking to strangers was terrifying. I’d sit in the bathroom with my little plastic box and eat a cheese sandwich.

Her mom was so worried, she decided to enroll Wilson in drama class – a sure-fire cure, or so she thought. “I was like No! “That’s definitely not me!” Wilson said. “Like, I’m holding onto the car door by my fingertips, and she’s pulling me, rips me off, like, pushes me like a snowplow – I’m like, ‘No, no, no, no. I’m not leaving. I’m Not Going! –  and then, pushes me in the door, shuts the door, and says, ‘I’ll be back at 5:00,’ and leaves.”

Her writing is funny and frank, even about the most intimate of things.

Cowan asked, “You hadn’t – I guess the nice way to phrase it is ‘gone all the way sexually’ until you were 35?”

Wilson laughed. “That’s a nice PG way to say it, Lee.” “Yeah, yeah. I had not had sex before I was 35. And that was something that I felt ashamed about – like, I felt really embarrassed about it, actually.”

“Even though nobody knew?

“Yeah. Nobody knew, not even my first lover knew. Now he’ll know. Great!”

It’s not that the entire memoir is funny, especially when she talks about one of her roles with Sacha Baron-Cohen, a fellow comedian and former co-star. Wilson said, “I think he’s an absolute comedy genius.” It was the worst professional experience that I’ve ever had.

Wilson stated that she felt Baron Cohen “had something against women, especially overweight women” during the filming of The Brothers Grimsby in 2016.

“[This] “It felt personal,” she wrote. … he just wanted me to look and feel awful.”

Wilson said, “He made me do things that were very uncomfortable and humiliating. I felt degraded. I had played characters in the past who took advantage of my physicality. But I had agency in that character.”

Baron Cohen, through a spokesperson called Wilson’s claims “demonstrably untrue.” 

One of the writers and producers of “Grimsby” told “Sunday Morning,” “This makes no sense …. Rebel’s character was not only consistent with what was written in the script which Rebel read and approved, but she also had complete agency in all aspects. [her character] Dawn.”

He is just one of the eight people associated with the film who have come forward so far to cast doubt on her claim.

Nevertheless, Wilson writes that when the production had finished, “It really sank in … it felt like SBC [Sacha Baron Cohen] “You have sexually harassed my.”

She told Cowan that “it’s not about canceling his contract; it’s about expressing my truth and what happened.”

She’s been wronged many times before. Wilson sued the billion-dollar media group in Australia after tabloids claimed she had repeatedly lied to them about her background. She won. Wilson had a law diploma from the University of New South Wales. She earned her law degree while still starring as a popular Australian TV series.

“I first became famous in Australia by playing this, like gang girl,” said she. “And then, they’d see me walk into, like, my federal constitutional law exam, they’d just be like, ‘Wait, but isn’t that … ?’ It would confuse people to no end!

She continues to surprise people. In 2022, she gave up comedy to play a dramatic character in “The Almond and the Seahorse.” The movie revealed a different side of Wilson – and a different look. She lost 60 pounds over just 11 months – partly on the advice from a fertility specialist. 

Yep. Wilson was ready to become a mother.

Royce Lillian Elizabeth Wilson has been born via a Surrogate in November of 2022.

Wilson found her love in Ramona Aruma. Wilson proposed to his girlfriend Ramona Agruma last year on Valentine’s Day at Disneyland. Wilson said, “All this while, I thought I’d been looking for a Disney Prince.” “I then found out it could have been a Disney princess.”

Rebel Wilson is a woman who has always chased dreams. Her memoir makes it clear that she’s been able to catch most of them.

     
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Reid Orvedahl produced the story. Editor: Mike Levine. 

Lee Cowan

Lee Cowan, an Emmy-winning journalist, is a national correspondent for CBS Sunday Morning and a substitute anchor.