Rebel Wilson has been through a truly amazing couple of years. The star actress has undergone a major life change, losing more than 60 pounds after an inspiring weight loss journey.
Now, Wilson is back at work filming in the UK. And recently, the Australian actress posted a new picture on the beach, which sure does a good job of showing how great she’s feeling. And wow, does she look amazing as well!
(Photo by Alessio Botticelli/GC Images)
For actress and comedian Rebel Wilson, the COVID-19 pandemic has meant a big shift in her life. She declared 2020 her “Year of Health,” and, as of about 12 months ago, she’s been working out, as well as eating healthily as per a new diet.
Rebel Wilson – incredible health journey
The Pitch Perfect actress has had great success with her new diet and lifestyle, having lost more than 60 pounds. Now, she looks more stunning than ever before!
So who is Rebel Wilson? And where did she come from? Here’s all you need to know.
Rebel Wilson didn’t have Hollywood outside her back door growing up.
She was born March 2, 1980 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and by the time she was a teenager, she knew that acting was her thing.
Wilson studied at the Tara Angelican School for Girls in western Sydney. Later on, she moved to the Australian Theatre for Young People (ATYP). At the same time as she was studying at ATYP, she attended the University of New South Wales, earning her arts/law degree.
Rebel Wilson – early life
Wilson was determined to be like Dame Judi Dench, and had never initially considered becoming a comedian. She thought of herself instead as being a very dramatic actress. Before long, though, Wilson knew what specific field she wanted to pursue her dreams in.
“I was in a play at Sydney Theatre Company and I thought I’d made it,” she told Vogue. “I was 19 and thought I was playing a dramatic role and as I got on stage people just started laughing at me and I was like: ‘What am I doing?’
“It was very confusing that first show, and then I just leaned into that and realized that there is something people find funny about me, so I just kept doing it.” Wilson added. “Only when I got the ATYP international scholarship from Nicole Kidman did I realize I wanted to specialize in comedy.”
Wilson wasn’t only a talented actress and comedian.
Heading for Hollywood
In school, she achieved amazing results, getting a 99.3 (out of 100) in her Higher School Certificate. But when she got the scholarship, she knew that was her dream to pursue.
Wilson received the chance to study in America via the scholarship, and moved to New York City, where she trained with improvisational comedy enterprise The Second City.
Yet Rebel didn’t quite represent the Hollywood way. For her, it wasn’t all about being the perfect girl with a fit, lean body. Looks don’t make anyone the best actress around, and Wilson showed the world of show business just that.
From the beginning of her acting career, she played with stereotypes, as well as creating roles for herself.
In 2003, she started out working in the comedy series Fat Pizza, as the character Toula, a food-loving big girl who was in charge of an overweight gang called “The Fat Chick 12”. However, since it was a comedy, there were actually only six people in the gang.
Didn’t take her seriously
She also wrote, created and starred in the comedy Bogan Pride, in which she played the role of an overweight girl. When she moved to the US, she once again created and starred in her own sitcom called Super Fun Night, starring as Kimmie, who oftentimes makes fun of herself.
Wilson never really thought of her weight as a problem, and she was definitely right to have not. Things should never really be about how you look, though Hollywood – as we all know – dances to the beat of its own drum.
Speaking with The Telegraph in 2020, Wilson said that she was actually paid large amounts of money to remain ‘big’ for upcoming roles in films and television series. But now, she sees it differently.
“I literally feel as if I have to physically transform myself, because for some reason, even though we’re in a very imaginative industry, it’s very difficult for people to imagine me as a serious actress and I feel that I physically have to show you that I am different,” she said.
Rebel Wilson loved school, and the scholarship she got to study in the US made a big impact.
She was the last of 16 young actors to receive the chance to go abroad through the program, funded by Oscar winner Nicole Kidman. In 2013, Wilson made sure she gave back.
Rebel Wilson – charity work
“We’ve [her and Nicole Kidman] spoke about it since,” Rebel told Huffington Post. “I really did thank her, and I donated the money back to the college two years ago, so they can use it for all their current projects and new actors.”
In addition to helping young Australian actors and actresses, Wilson has a big heart when it comes to helping others. She’s a great role model and inspiration for others to stand up for what they believe in, and has sponsored many children at a school in Tanzania.
Let’s face it, Hollywood is mostly made up of American movie stars. That said, Australia has had its fare share of huge celebrities, too, including Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Hugh Jackman, Geoffrey Rush and, of course, Rebel Wilson, among others.
In 2011, she got her big American breakthrough, starring as Brynn in the comedy Bridesmaids. The film was nominated for two Oscars and marked the next step in Wilson’s career.
The following year, Rebel starred in the comedy Pitch Perfect, which also became a huge success. She then featured in both Pitch Perfect 2 and Pitch Perfect 3. It set her up for several other jobs in film. In 2019, she appeared in the Oscar winning film Jojo Rabbit, but since then it’s been tough for her to get work due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, Rebel took on a whole different project for 2020 and moving into 2021. For her, it was the “Year of Health,” during which she started working out and eating healthy. Through that, she lost an incredible 60 pounds!
Rebel Wilson – weight loss
Both Rebel and comedian James Corden appeared in the heavily-criticized musical Cats. Yet though the film bombed in virtually every way, it was the turning point on a personal level for Wilson, as she started losing weight.
“I lost eight pounds, shooting my number, in four days,” Wilson recalled in an interview with ET Online. “One, because there’s a lot of physicality, but also, they heated up the set very high, to almost 100 Fahrenheit, so that we could never cool down.
“These people are like, the best dancers in the whole world, so they can’t cool their muscles down or they could get an injury and they’d be out of the film,” she added. “So they’d heat up the set like a sauna so we would never cool down, but made it pretty uncomfortable.”
Rebel wanted 2020 to be a healthy year. She began the year by writing a letter to herself, saying that she was going to give it her all during 2020. And she sure did!
Speaking on Drew Barrymore’s talkshow, Wilson said that she had previously suffered from emotional eating due to the fame. Sometimes, she’d consume around 3,000 calories per day.
“There is a lot of stress that comes with it, and I guess my way of dealing with it was just eating donuts,” Wilson said.
“So I was working on the mental side of things of ‘why was I not doing that? Why was I not valuing myself and having better self-worth?’”
Diet and working out
It was time to make some changes. On January 2, Wilson shared some pictures of her taking a walk along the beach. She decided to change her lifestyle, avoiding sugar and junk food, while drinking more water.
At the same time as Wilson started working out on a regular basis, she also followed a restrictive program called the Mayr Method. It claims to promote weight loss by improving gut health.
Rebel Wilson has been through a lot with her weight loss, fighting everyday to be the best her she can be. Now, she’s actually reached her goal weight of 165 pounds!
But just days ago, she decided to speak out on a more serious matter. Through Instagram, the actress revealed she’s been struggling with fertility.
“I got some bad news today and didn’t have anyone to share it with,” Wilson wrote. “But I guess I gotta tell someone. To all the women out there struggling with fertility, I feel ya.”
“The universe works in mysterious ways and sometimes it all doesn’t make sense…but I hope there’s light about to shine through all the dark clouds.”
Spoke out about diagnosis
In 2020, Wilson opened up about having been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS). Now, speaking to Entertainment Online, she says that she’s been suffering from PCOS from a very young age.
“I’ve been overweight for about 20 years,” Rebel Wilson said. “I started gaining weight when I was about 20. I had something called PCOS and I gained weight rapidly. It’s just a hormone imbalance and you gain a lot of weight usually and that’s how it manifested in me.
“Sometimes, I feel sad, but then at the same time, I worked my body to my advantage,” she added. “I like being all sizes. It’s just now turning 40, I am more health-conscious and thinking of starting a family.”
Rebel also struggled with emotional eating before. However, she decided to turn things around and live a better and more healthy lifestyle.
“I think what I mainly suffered from was emotional eating and dealing with the stress of becoming famous internationally. There is a lot of stress that comes with it and I guess my way of dealing with it was just like eating a doughnut,” she told Entertainment Online.
New wonderful picture
Even though we’re still in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rebel, alongside many other actors and actresses, is still working.
The Australian has been in England to film her new movie The Almond and the Seahorse, and some scenes have been set on the beach .
Wilson was recently seen sporting a wet suit, standing next to her co-actress Charlotte Gainsbourg. And she sure looks really happy!
“The CHILLEST day on set with my amazingly talented and gorgeous co-star Charlotte Gainsbourg,” Wilson wrote on Twitter, alongside the picture of the two.
We are so happy for Rebel Wilson that she’s turned her life around. She looks like she is enjoying life every single day – and we find her very inspirational.
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