“Apparently it wasn’t Rebel Wilson’s choice to come out.”
Rebel tweeted a response, following the incident of an Australian newspaper being blamed for “outing” her.
Source: Vivien Killilea / Getty Images for Netflix
Before that, Rebel revealed in May that she was “happily in a relationship” with somebody matched up with by one of her buddy. However, she did not reveal who she was dating, and her reply did not respond to a request for comment from Page Six then.
Source: Nbc / NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images
“[My friend] had known both of us for at least five years and he thought we would hit it off — and then we did!” Rebel expressed her delight at dating her new significant other.
After that, on Thursday, Rebel shared an Instagram photo with her partner, Ramona Agruma. The image went with a caption, which reads, “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince…but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney princess.
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Although Ramona had previously appeared on the Instagram account of Rebel and even joined certain events with her, this was the first time that Rebel openly announced they were dating, prompting several to label the post a “public coming out” for the actress.
Source: Alex Goodlett / Getty Images for Operation Smile
The Sydney Morning Herald, on the other hand, issued on Saturday claiming that they had contacted Rebel on Thursday and allowed her two days to respond to her relationship “before publishing a single word.”
Source: Dimitrios Kambouris / WireImage / Getty Images
Contacting Rebel was deemed a “huge mistake” by writer Andrew Hornery. “Wilson opted to gazump the story, posting about her new ‘Disney Princess’ on Instagram early Friday morning, the same platform she had previously used to brag about her handsome ex-boyfriend, wealthy American beer baron Jacob Busch.”
Source: Arturo Holmes / FilmMagic / Getty Images
Rebel’s refusal to react to the “discreet, genuine and honest queries” was “underwhelming”, considering how “bitterly she complained about poor journalism standards” when she managed to pull out a win in a case against the publication, Women’s Day, for defamation, following the event that they called her a serial liar, according to the writer.
The piece continues to say that anti-LGBTQ discrimination in Hollywood is no longer a major deal:
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
It also implies that issuing a piece about Rebel dating a woman would have been acceptable because she wrote about her “hunky lover” on Instagram and was widely assumed to be heterosexual:
Source: Sydney Morning Herald
For what it’s worth, we have no idea if this is Rebel’s first same-sex relationship or how publicly queer she was in her personal life. It’s also none of our concern!
On Twitter, the article quickly became popular, with several blaming the publication of “outing” Rebel:
I’ve just read this @smh piece 3 times to make sure that I wasn’t misreading. The publication messaged Rebel Wilson saying they would out her in 2 days – and is now complaining that she chose to announce her relationship with a woman herself. Quite astonishing. pic.twitter.com/qiPZkYFmka
— Megha Mohan (@meghamohan) June 11, 2022
i am so beyond disgusted at this. turns out rebel wilson only came out to avoid being forcefully outed and now that newspaper is pissed at her for ruining their scoop?? so they wrote this mess?? i am so angry and so sorry for rebel, no one deserves this. pic.twitter.com/PTnTqzr9VI
— theresa 🌈 (@sapphoslibrary) June 11, 2022
them claiming she would never have struggled with any internalised homophobia because she’s always id’d as straight is WILD!!! like is there not maybe a reason she wasn’t out before?????
— theresa 🌈 (@sapphoslibrary) June 11, 2022
In case you were wondering how Pride Month is going, the @smh got in touch with Rebel Wilson to say they’d be outing her in the next few days, so when Rebel came out herself the journalists are throwing a tantrum that she robbed them of an exclusive.
— Dr. Bodie A. Ashton (@manwithoutatan) June 11, 2022
The paper afterwards produced a statement denying that Rebel had been “outed,” claiming, “We simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response. I had made no decision about whether or what to publish, and the Herald’s decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied.”
Source: Rich Fury / Getty Images for Vanity Fair
Rebel then reacted to one of the tweets that reads “Apparently it wasn’t Rebel Wilson‘s choice to come out — the SMH have admitted to giving her a heads up two days in advance that they were going to “out her.
So apparently it wasn’t @RebelWilson‘s choice to come out… The @smh/@theage have admitted to giving her a heads up 2 days in advance that they were going to “out” her. What’s worse, openly gay men at the Sydney Morning Herald were involved in this. 🤦🏼♀️ https://t.co/Zl80zg01SW
— Kate Doak (@katedoak) June 11, 2022
“Thank you for your comments,” she replied. “It was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace.”
Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace 💗
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 12, 2022
Additionally, she liked a number of tweets showing her backup:
Source: Rebel Wilson / Via Twitter: @RebelWilson
We here at Daily Highlight wish Rebel and Ramona the best of luck.