- Rebel Wilson told The Sunday Times she was contractually required to stay overweight for "Pitch Perfect" movies.
- The actor chose to "get healthy" at the end of 2019, and her weight loss was highly publicized.
Rebel Wilson said she was contractually obligated to remain overweight while filming the "Pitch Perfect" movies.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Wilson said that while she filmed the three movies — in which she played a character called "Fat Amy" — her contract had a clause against drastically changing her appearance for up to a year after filming. She was a US size 18-20 at the time.
It meant that while she filmed the movies between 2012 and 2017, her weight was not allowed to fluctuate by more than 10 pounds.
The Australian actor, 44, said that in the early part of her career, she "deliberately made myself less attractive" because she thought that would help her gain more success.
"I wanted to make something of myself, have a great career, and make a lot of money," she said, per The Times.
"I knew I wouldn't be taken seriously like a Cate Blanchett or Nicole Kidman, but I quickly realized that the bigger you were, the more audiences laughed. So I'd have my gut hanging out and wear micro-shorts onstage, no make-up, stuff that horrified my mother. It was a really conscious decision to look ugly. It was part of my plan."
Focusing on her emotional relationship with food
Wilson said she decided to "get healthy" at the end of 2019 after years of having a problematic relationship with food and being told by a fertility doctor that losing weight would give her a better chance at IVF.
However, her decision was not met with unanimous support.
"People thought I'd lose my pigeonhole in my career, playing the fat funny character, and they wanted me to continue in that," she said, per The Times.
In 2020, the actor dropped 77 pounds through diet and exercise, TODAY reported in 2021.
Wilson said that she made a conscious effort not to lose weight through extreme dieting and instead went on long walks and ate a high-protein, low-sugar diet.
She said that the most significant change was speaking with a doctor who focused on her emotional relationship with food.
"I wasn't dealing with my emotions properly. I was just stuffing my face and holding on to them," Wilson said. "So, as we spoke, the weight just kinda dropped off."
Despite her successful career, which has included roles in the movies "Bridesmaids" and "Isn't It Romantic," Wilson recently told People that she "got more attention for weight loss than any movie I'd ever done."
In January, Wilson opened up about regaining 30 pounds amid work stress.
Wilson's memoir, "Rebel Rising," will be released on April 2. She said her book will cover "everything" about her life, including her "hard" teenage years, becoming famous, and her "relationship with food."