Rebel Wilson breaks silence on ‘hard situation’ as newspaper denies ‘outing’ her
Rebel Wilson has responded to an attempt by an Australian newspaper to publish an article about her relationship before she could address it publicly herself. (Vivien Killilea/Getty for Netflix)
Rebel Wilson has addressed attempts by an Australian newspaper to ‘out’ her, saying she’s handling the “hard” situation “with grace”.
The Pitch Perfect star revealed on Instagram Thursday (9 June) that she is in a relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma, gushing that she finally found her “Disney Princess”.
However, it hasn’t all been a Disney fairytale for Wilson. A Sydney Morning Herald article written by columnist Andrew Hornery and published on Saturday (11 June) revealed that the newspaper planned to run a story on Wilson’s new relationship before she could address it on her terms, effectively ‘outing’ her as queer to the public.
Wilson broke her silence about the horrible situation on Twitter on Sunday (12 June), and admitted that it has been a “very hard” time.
“Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace,” she tweeted, adding a simple heart emoji to the post.
Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace ?
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 12, 2022
Hornery wrote in the original opinion piece, which has since been removed, that the outlet emailed Wilson’s representatives and gave her “two days to comment on her new relationship with another woman”.
It would appear that instead of letting the newspaper reveal her relationship, Wilson announced it via social media.
Hornery moaned that in doing this, Wilson had “gazumped” him, and called giving her warning of his story a “big mistake”.
His comments prompted immense outrage on social media, and many people voiced their disgust that the Sydney Morning Herald would out someone before they were ready to share their truth with the world.
Amid fierce backlash, the Sydney Morning Herald’s editor Bevan Shields told PinkNews that the outlet “simply asked questions” and “included a deadline for a response”.
Shields added: “To say that the Herald ‘outed Rebel Wilson is wrong.”
Hornery wrote in a new column, published Monday (13 June), that he didn’t seek to “out” the actor but understood why his email giving Wilson a deadline for comment could have “been seen as a threat”.
Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery says he’s learned “difficult lessons” amid backlash over his article about Rebel Wilson. (Arturo Holmes/FilmMagic)
He admitted that he made mistakes in his approach to the reporting and said he learned some “new… difficult lessons from this”.
“I genuinely regret that Rebel has found this hard,” Hornery wrote. “That was never my intention.”
He continued: “But I see she has handled it all with extraordinary grace.
“As a gay man I’m well aware of how deeply discrimination hurts. The last thing I would ever want to do is inflict that pain on someone else.”
Hornery promised in the piece that he and the Sydney Morning Herald will “approach things differently from now on” to ensure that both take into “consideration the extra layer of complexities people face when it comes to their sexuality”.
“We still have to ask questions, sometimes very difficult ones,” Hornery said.
“It would be much worse to write gossip items about the unscripted events in their lives without them having a chance to have their say. But we need to make it clear that a deadline is not an ultimatum.”
