Rebel Wilson talks weight loss: 'I know what it’s like to be invisible'
Watch: Rebel Wilson opens up about her weight loss: 'I know what it’s like to be invisible'
Rebel Wilson has opened up about her decision to lose weight during her 'Year of Health', revealing that before her transformation she felt "invisible".
Speaking in a BBC interview to mark her inclusion as one of the BBC's 100 Women of 2021, the Bridesmaids actor discussed being the "funny, fat girl", why she embarked on a "Year of Health" during the pandemic, and society's "obsession" with female body shape.
"It's fascinating, why are people so obsessed with it? Like, with women in particular about their looks?" she said.
"I know what it's like to be a woman who is essentially invisible to most people because of not being seen as traditionally beautiful or whatever.
"It's crazy to try to fit that. It's just better to be the healthiest version," she continues.
At the beginning of 2020, the Pitch Perfect star decided she was going to make this her 'Year Of Health”, revealing previously that turning 40 had inspired her to rethink her health regime.
Since then she has undergone a dramatic body transformation, but the star has noticed that her incredible 35kg weight loss has courted a lot of attention.
"So is that what a woman has to do in the world, is just lose weight to like, get attention?" she said.
Read more: Rebel Wilson wows fans in pink jumpsuit as she reveals latest results of health kick
Wilson says that her decision to go on a health journey wasn't focussed on changing her size, but instead on getting healthy.
"Even though I was still very confident being bigger and loved myself and could rock a red carpet, and even though I was probably double the size, sometimes triple the weight of other actresses. But I still felt confident in that," she reveals.
"But I knew deep down inside, some of the emotional eating behaviour I was doing was not healthy."
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The star went on to say she was using food to "numb" her emotions, which she says wasn't the healthiest thing.
"I think it was dealing with not being a natural performer and having to perform almost every day. And that pressure and internal stress to be able to perform like that," she explains.
Surprisingly, however, not everyone was on board with her transformation journey and Wilson says she got a lot of push-back from her own Hollywood team when she first decided she was going to embark on her 'Year of Health'.
She said her team questioned why she would want to do that when she was proving so successful as an actor, "earning millions of dollars being the funny fat girl".
Elsewhere in the interview the star discussed her fertility struggles, explaining that she's still on her own fertility journey and describing it as "emotional".
"You get hopeful and then your hopes are dashed, so I feel for any woman going through it," she continued.
She went on to say that she was a classic example of a career woman who went out into the world and didn't even think about kids, and then suddenly in your mid-thirties is like "oh hang on, do I want that as an option? And if I do, what do I need to do?"
The star is still hoping to be a mum one day.
"It could be great if I had my own children, but I don't know whether that's gonna happen. So I'm trying not to have any expectations set on an outcome. Just that I'm the healthiest that I can be, I'm gonna try and what will happen will happen."
Read more: Rebel Wilson: I lost weight to boost fertility and freeze my eggs
Wilson has been documenting her weight loss journey on Instagram, revealing that she has been achieving it safely and sustainably through eating healthily and exercising.
This has included high-intensity workouts with her personal trainer Jono Castano Acero.
As well as "lifestyle tweaks", Wilson also credits regular aerobic walking for her five and a half stone weight loss, which she now says is her favourite way to stay active.
"I feel like sometimes people think you need to work your body really hard to get results, and yeah, if you were training to be the next Thor or something you would be doing hardcore things, but as a regular person, walking is just so healthy for you. The body is designed to move in that way," she explains.
"I've managed to maintain that for almost a year. It's just all those lifestyle habits changing,
She loves the fact that it's so easy to do, 'anywhere in the world', and likes to listen to podcasts as she strides.
Read more: Rebel Wilson reveals body confidence trick she's adopted during weight loss journey
Previously Rebel described herself as a "stress eater" and turned to sugar and carbs when she felt overwhelmed. She added: "I think what the pandemic taught us all is that health is so important. Your health is your world.
"It doesn't matter how much money you've got, if you've got terrible health, you can't enjoy anything and if you're healthy, you can live life to the fullest."
