Rebel Wilson

Rebel Wilson0:01

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

Presenter0:05

Hello, I'm Lauren Laverne and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast. Every week I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury they'd want to take with them if they were castaway to a desert island. And, for rights reasons, the music is shorter than the original broadcast. I hope you enjoy listening.

Presenter0:44

My castaway this week is the actor and writer Rebel Wilson. She burst onto the Hollywood scene 13 years ago, stealing the show with her breakout performance in Bridesmaids before taking center stage in the internationally successful Pitch Perfect trilogy. Her comedy persona was outrageous, her confidence infectious, and her body-positive attitude hailed as a refreshing change on screen. She was a rebel by name, but perhaps not by nature. She grew up in the suburbs of Sydney and was deputy head girl at school where her first love was mathematics. She was so painfully shy, her mother dragged her to drama class in an attempt to bring her out of her shell. Luckily, it worked. She says, if you've got the ability to make people laugh, you have an inherent sense of power. Sometimes men feel uncomfortable with women having that power, but of course, women have always been funny and talented. Maybe that's scary. Rebel Wilson, welcome to Desert Island Discs.

Rebel Wilson1:39

Hi, it's great to be here.

Presenter1:40

Great to have you. So let's start with that sense of power then. Can you remember the first time you realized making people laugh gave that to you?

Rebel Wilson1:51

The first time people laughed, I was unexpected because I didn't set out. I set out trying to be an actress like the next Dame Judy Dench. And then I was in this play that was put on at the Sydney Theatre Company, and I thought I was playing a serious role. And I came on, and my first line to the other character who was called Amy, was like, Amy, Amy. People just started laughing. And then I tried to be even more serious, and then it made people just laugh. And so the first time I got laughs, it was kind of a shock. And then I very quickly computed, oh, there's something about me that people find funny. So I'm going to lean into it.

Rebel Wilson2:25

Uh

Presenter2:25

When you're acting on set, Rebel, I know that you really love improvising, but I'm wondering about the dynamics of that on set because of course, you know, other actors might have their own idea about the pecking order and who's really the star. Have you ever had to be mindful of that?

Rebel Wilson2:40

I have had once with an older gentleman who couldn't handle that I was improvising and then out of courtesy to him I just stopped and just only did the scripted lines. But in Pitch Perfect 1, a movie I'm in, I improvise this bit about mermaid dancing and I go down on the ground and pretend to be a mermaid dancing as if that's some form of dance.

Rebel Wilson3:03

And it was very unexpected. I just improvised it to the point where they actually had camera marks on the ground in flu-row tape that they then had to paint out of the finished movie because they didn't expect me to go on the ground and start moving around on the ground. It's just sometimes it's the unexpected stuff that gets captured. Almost always ends up being the stuff that you see in the movie trailers because it's one of the best jokes.

Presenter3:26

Rebel, you've played so many different roles and many different kinds of comedy, but you know, you are a fan of an edgy joke from time to time and I wonder uh whether you think different rules apply. Can women get away with different things to men, less comedy?

Rebel Wilson3:33

Uh

Rebel Wilson3:38

Oh gosh, I've I mean, I've definitely said a lot of edgy jokes and said'em sometimes in very public places like the BAFTAs. Yeah, I I don't think there's a different standard. It's more this thing about if you are something then you're now you're allowed to joke about it.

Rebel Wilson3:56

So, say if you are overweight, you can say jokes, but if you're not, that's kind of what's currently.

Rebel Wilson4:02

Happening so that's a good thing or do you find

Presenter4:02

So how do you feel about GN

Presenter4:05

Bit restrictive is coming.

Rebel Wilson4:07

I think that's hard. It's going into this territory of like saying, well, only straight actors can play straight roles and gay actors can play gay roles.

Rebel Wilson4:17

Which I think is total nonsense. I think you should be able to play any role that you want. But I always think in comedy your job is to always kind of flirt with that line of what's acceptable. Sometimes you do step over it, but at the end of the day, you are ent trying to entertain people. And people I'll tell you where you won't be entertained, if people are just always being safe and protective, you're not going to get good comedy from that.

Presenter4:43

Rebel, you're sharing another great passion of yours with us today, music, which I know has been a feature of your career right from the beginning, but we want to get started and dive in with you first, if you wouldn't mind.

Rebel Wilson4:53

Yeah.

Presenter4:53

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson4:55

This first one is called Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars. And why it's important to me, this is a song we actually sung in Pitch Perfect 1.

Rebel Wilson5:04

And we sing it in an abandoned swimming pool. We're an a cappella group. And we sing it in an abandoned swimming pool because of the acoustics. And we just learn to be cohesive as a group. And it was freezing the night when we were filming it. And so in between takes, we would kind of huddle together like penguins, kind of like you'd see on a nature documentary where they go in a circle and then one lucky penguin gets to be in the middle and they got the most warmth. Who was that? Was that you? Sometimes probably Anna Kendrick because she was the biggest star in the first movie and then kind of the smallest. So she probably needed it the most. And then the rest of us huddling around so we'd get the cold on our back, but inside the circle would be warm.

Presenter5:31

Who was that? Was that you?

Presenter5:40

Okay.

Rebel Wilson5:45

And that was just the first night that we really we had each other's backs and we filmed all night and we sung amazingly this song in Ten Part Harmony and it was just like the most incredible experience.

Speaker 45:57

Oh, you know, you know, you know I never ask you to change If perfect's what you're searching for then just stay the same So don't even bother asking if you look okay You know I'll say When I see your face

Speaker 46:18

There's not a thing that I would change Cause you're amazing

Presenter6:26

Bruno Mars and just the way you are. And you're harmonizing along there, Rebel Wilson.

Rebel Wilson6:31

Yeah, well my part it starts off with the a capel arrangement. It goes do do do do do do do do do do do and then the second part comes in and goes do do do do do do do do do do do do do do do and you have to repeat that.

Presenter6:44

The girl singing the melodies. Well, a song that changed your life. Not a bad way to start. Let's go back to the beginning though, Rebel Wilton. You were born in Balmain, a suburb of Sydney, in nineteen eighty, and you're the eldest of four kids. Um you had a different name on your birth certificate back then.

Rebel Wilson7:00

Uh

Presenter7:00

What was it exactly?

Rebel Wilson7:01

How come? When I was born, I was named by my mum Rebel because a little girl called Rebel had sung at my parents' wedding. And so my mum wanted to call me Rebel. My parents had a big fight about it because my father wanted me to go to Christian school and didn't think that the name Rebel was going to fly and that they'd even accept me with a name like Rebel. So he forced my mum to have as my names what was going to be my middle names, Melanie Elizabeth. Melanie actually after a singer in the 70s and then Elizabeth after the queen. So I went under those names at school but my mum was always like, well yeah but Rebel's your name. You actually changed

Presenter7:40

your name but on your birth certificate as soon as you could, I think.

Rebel Wilson7:44

Uh yeah, when I was an adult when I could change it, I j kind of felt like, well, that was the name I was always supposed to be, and if my mum had more had more power in the relationship.

Rebel Wilson7:52

That would have been my name. So it didn't feel like changing my name, more like just making official what my name was always supposed to be. Okay.

Presenter8:00

I know when you were growing up, Rebel, that dogs, especially beagles, play quite a central role in your childhood, don't you?

Rebel Wilson8:06

In your childhood. Too big of a role. Talk us through it. How come? So I come from a family, like a dog showing family. So we had a yellow caravan called Pet Cetra, etc. Somebody clever had worked that out. And it sold all sorts of pet products at the dog shows. Like it wasn't glamorous. I know you see crafts or whatever, which is really quite posh and fancy, but the dog shows in Australia were not glamorous. There was normally like a disgusting public toilet up on a hill. It'd be one toilet for like hundreds of people. Where would this passion come from with your parents? Why were they doing it? So my great-grandmother brought Beagles out from England and she, I believe, started the Beagle Club of New South Wales.

Presenter8:39

Where is this passion called?

Rebel Wilson8:52

And then it just was passed down to then my grandmother and then my mum. And obviously, what was destined for me was to become a professional dog shower. That would have been my mum's absolute dream. And for you? How did you feel about that? Me? Well, I was allergic to dogs. Oh. So I was just very uncomfortable as a child. Nobody tested me, so I didn't know as a child. I was allergic to a feeling, right? I'd feel itchy. I'd just never feel comfortable. I didn't love hugging the dogs. And I never knew, quite knew why. I thought maybe because the dogs would get a lot of attention. They really were the stars of my family. And the first time I ever was on a TV set or saw a musical was because of the dogs because they had agents and they did commercials. So these are these.

Presenter9:03

For you?

Presenter9:13

So is the legend field?

Presenter9:36

So these are these are dogs that your family were were breeding and owned and that they would have agents and careers?

Rebel Wilson9:39

Yeah, they

Rebel Wilson9:42

Yeah. So they did it like a pet food commercial. We're on a T V show called Burke's Backyard. It must have been exciting. Yeah, it was exciting as a kid to just watch that.

Presenter9:50

Do you

Rebel Wilson9:53

But it was like the dogs were the stars. The dogs got bathed in my bathtub, you know. Oh, that can't have been good for the other shit. No, because there was all this dog hair, and I'd always get really annoyed. And at times, I felt like the dogs got treated better than me, which is probably not true, but I just felt like they were definitely the stars in our family. But if we'd come to your family home, would we have known that beagles were important? 100%. You'd know it from the beagle door knocker that was the beagle. Would be the first thing before even entering the house.

Presenter9:59

Well that can't be good for the other two.

Presenter10:20

Yeah.

Presenter10:21

Before even entering the house.

Rebel Wilson10:23

You'd see that you'd see all the dogs showing ribbons, hang up on the wall all the trophies of all the dogs. Like the tea towels was beagles, there was frame photos of the beagles, the puppies would be in the kitchen, in the whelping box. Yeah, it was beagles everywhere.

Presenter10:40

So they were the focus and you physically couldn't feel that comfortable around them. So how did you entertain yourself at the dog shows? Did you keep out of the way?

Rebel Wilson10:48

Well, I did end up being what's called a junior handler, but I gravitated to showing a breed that was hypoallergenic, which is called Bichon Freese. Were you good at it?

Presenter10:48

Well I did

Rebel Wilson10:58

Oh, I don't think I was great. I never the pinnacle would be if you could go to the Royal Easter show in Sydney and win the junior handling competition then. And I got into the to the Sydney Royal, but I never won.

Rebel Wilson11:09

So I wasn't a prodigy.

Rebel Wilson11:12

All right, it's time for some more music now, Rebel. I'd love to hear your second disc today. What's it gonna be? My second disc is a Wheatney used in classic The Greatest Love of All. This is the first song I ever, ever remember hearing. So I was very young, and my mum would have this cassette tape and she'd just pump it in the car. My mum

Presenter11:16

Being handsome.

Rebel Wilson11:30

loved singing, and I think was quite a good singer herself.

Rebel Wilson11:34

And she used to play the guitar and she loved this Whitney Houston cassette and would play it and this song just always stood out because it was talking about I believe the children are our future and I was there a little child going, oh, that's a nice message and my mum just loved this and then I just love it as well every time I hear it. It's just it's just such a powerful, great song.

Presenter11:48

That's me.

Speaker 411:58

I believe that children are our future. Teach them well and let them lead the way.

Speaker 412:05

Show them all the beauty they possess inside

Speaker 412:11

Give them a sense, a pride to make it easier.

Speaker 412:18

Let the children laugh

Speaker 412:23

Remind us how we used to be everybody.

Presenter12:29

Whitney Houston and greatest love of all for your mum Susan Rebel Wilson.

Presenter12:33

She worked for the family business and was also a teacher. How would you describe your relationship?

Rebel Wilson12:38

Yeah, she was a state school teacher, mainly to kindergarten and had a specialty in working with ESL students where their English is their second language, so they might have been refugees or come to Australia and needed that extra help. So she's just like just a light of a woman. She kind of did everything for us and tried to make our lives great. But I guess we're probably the closest you could be, but we also came from a conservative background where we didn't quite talk about feelings or emotions.

Rebel Wilson13:10

I know that you've said

Presenter13:11

About your father, Warwick, that he had quite an unpredictable side. How did that manifest itself at home?

Rebel Wilson13:15

How did that work?

Rebel Wilson13:17

My father's story is is quite sad. His father got murdered when he was 18 and just about to finish high school. And it was always a mystery in the family. My grandfather, who I never met, worked for customs and he said, I've cracked a big case and I'm coming home to celebrate. And he said that to my nanna and then he was found dead on the side of the road in his car.

Presenter13:38

In his car. So your dad was just a teenager. Yeah.

Rebel Wilson13:40

Yeah, and my father was 18. And my father, who was quite bright, got derailed in his studies. And he did go on to university, but didn't end up completing it. And I think he just would have a tendency to get very, very angry and could snap, which, as a child, you became quite scared of. So you saw that at a time.

Presenter14:01

Door that at home.

Rebel Wilson14:02

Yeah, even though he tried to do his best and he clearly did love us, but he would get very angry at the drop of a hat. And you could tell when he was about to explode, like his whole face would go red and he'd start kind of shaking a bit. And then he'd normally just explode and do something crazy. And sometimes whack us or grab something and throw it. Or it seems to be a bit scary, especially when you're a young kid.

Presenter14:25

Scary to be around.

Rebel Wilson14:28

And my father would say stuff like, you know, your mum doesn't love you, she only loves the dogs, and would plant these things in my head, where whereas when I became about 11 or so, I realized, oh, he's not telling the truth about that. So how did you cope with that as a little girl then? The way of coping would be, which I learnt from my mother, was to eat sweets.

Presenter14:49

Worse.

Rebel Wilson14:49

That numbed any kind of feelings of pain or emotion surrounding it. So we didn't talk about it openly, but we definitely, the women of the family, bonded by eating sweets and comforting ourselves in that way. I mean, it's part of the reason why then I went wanted to go to boarding school because I wanted to escape the stuff that was going on in the house, because I thought that.

Rebel Wilson15:09

If there's trauma and I don't do well in my exams or don't succeed, then my life will also be derailed. And so I begged them to go to boarding school. And luckily, they agreed, and so I kind of escaped it a little bit, which I feel a little bit of guilt that I left my brother and sisters there. But at the same time, I was still a child myself. And it was hard because I knew stuff was going on and it was quite volatile. But at the same time, I thought if I'm going to have a chance.

Rebel Wilson15:40

To get out of this lifestyle, I'm gonna have to do well at school.

Presenter15:44

So it sounds like you were motivated immediately to to not repeat that pattern and to not end up where your mum had.

Rebel Wilson15:51

Yeah, and one of the sad parts was like seeing my parents' marriage which was definitely

Rebel Wilson15:57

not great. It made me not ever want to go into a relationship. So it made me go, you know what? And mum was really so encouraging of me to go out into the world and just chase your dreams.

Rebel Wilson16:09

She goes, don't settle down like what I did. Don't have kids early. And so I was very aware.

Rebel Wilson16:15

that if I had a relationship that it might

Rebel Wilson16:19

chain me to a situation that I d really didn't want to be in and that wouldn't be the best thing for me. And so I kind of really just avoided any kind of romantic relationship'cause I didn't end want to end up having a relationship like my parents had. Did they argue a lot? I know they divorced in ninety seven. They separated. They never officially got divorced because my mum thought

Rebel Wilson16:42

If my she legally divorced him, that would might cause him to do something really crazy or commit suicide or or something like that. So she never actually divorced him, but she kicked him out of the house when I when I was sixteen. And so she should have, really, and I was very proud of her for doing that. It must have taken every piece of strength that she had after years of being like emotionally abused.

Rebel Wilson17:06

Yeah.

Presenter17:06

And in terms of seeing your dad and your relationship with him, how was it after your parents separated? Did you get to see much of him?

Rebel Wilson17:14

Basically at that point we kind of became estranged. The business which had grown from just that yellow caravan into being like importing, exporting pet products. And then my dad somehow turned that business into owing money so by the end of it my mum was left with absolutely nothing. We all kind of resented him for doing that and doing that to our mum and we lost our house and we moved into another house but it wasn't as good and I didn't have a room and I was just sleeping on the floor. It was just like a really, really hard time. Your relationship with your dad sounded

Presenter17:49

And like it was difficult. And I I know that he sadly died in in twenty thirteen. Had you been able to make your peace with him to to see him before that happened?

Rebel Wilson17:58

Eventually, the anger just turned to pity because I saw a man that had nobody really in his life. And so we started slowly, very slowly letting him back in. And he was very proud of me becoming an actress. Like, he was a big fan of comedies in general. Like, he loved British comedies. He loved Monty Python, like Only Fools and Horses, Faulty Towers, all those classic. Like, he loved it. He loved that I went in. I feel really proud that he did get to see that I was a success. And I think he was very sorry for a lot of his actions, even though he never expressed that. But it's been 10 years. And one of the blessings is that our family started becoming much more open emotionally and telling each other, we love you and love you, mum. And almost every phone call we now say it, which is something that never happened before because we just weren't expressing our emotions like that. That's progress for sure. Uh

Rebel Wilson18:56

Letter Some more music, Rebel Will

Presenter18:57

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson18:59

What's it Always look on the bright side of life from Monty Python. It's a comedy song, but it was kind of something so sad because it takes me back to my dad's funeral and we played this at the very end.

Speaker 319:12

Some things in life are bad, they can really make you mad.

Speaker 319:18

Other things just make you swear and curse.

Speaker 319:22

When you're chewing on life's gristle, that grumble, give a whistle.

Speaker 319:28

This'll help things turn out for the best.

Speaker 319:33

Playing

Speaker 319:35

Always look on the bright side of life.

Speaker 319:43

Always look

Presenter19:44

Monty Python, and always look on the bright side of life. So Rebel Wilson, you went to the Tara Anglican School for Girls, a private school in the suburbs of Sydney. Your parents really had to stretch the family finances to pay for it. How do you look back at your

Speaker 319:52

In the s

Rebel Wilson19:59

So I start Tara, and I'm 11, turning 12. And then somehow I get in the cool group, and then they asked me to smoke behind the gym one lunchtime. And I was like, oh, but I don't smoke. So they kicked me out of the group. And then by that point, all the other groups of girls had formed. So I didn't have any group to go to. So I went and ate my lunch in the library just by myself. How long did that go on for? Over a year because I didn't want to be the dorky girl who got bullied. So it'd probably be better to just simply be invisible. And it was sad, and I was like, oh, I really wanted friends. But I was just so shy and so reserved until one day I read in the library, I see this psychological study.

Presenter20:19

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson20:42

That says that what your personality is at fifteen will be basically your personality for life. So how old were you at that point? So I was about fourteen and I was like, oh, I don't have that much time. I better change. And then

Rebel Wilson20:55

Kind of like miraculously, I find this sports bag in the back of my dad's car and there's like fifty cassette tapes and they were all kind of motivational self help tapes. And one was called How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Rebel Wilson21:09

And I started listening to it and I went, wait, I can take active steps to like improve my situation and my life. And I started forcing myself to do things outside of my comfort zone. So because I was painfully shy, I forced myself to do debating, to do public speaking at school, which was awful at first. Like I just go red in the face. I hated it. It was so challenging. Like it was like the worst thing you could tell me to do is to go and speak in front of other people.

Presenter21:38

And just

Rebel Wilson21:38

Stinkers.

Presenter21:38

You've obviously got a lot of willpower at this point. I mean, you know, you've chanced upon this study, decided to turn things around and then treating yourself to this type of exposure therapy, you know, tackling all of your

Rebel Wilson21:48

You know tax.

Presenter21:50

Worst fears one by one in a way.

Rebel Wilson21:52

They didn't you know, my family's going through a lot, people go through a lot. Like it's not like anyone was just volunteering to help me. I was clearly struggling as a teenager and and so I just had to help myself. And then, yes, it did take over a year, but did I become popular? Yes.

Presenter22:07

And this is where your your mum comes in because she'd obviously noticed that you weren't making friends at school and secretly enrolled you in drama classes and then by the sound of it more or less abandoned you there on the

Rebel Wilson22:17

Yeah, pretty much didn't tell me. We arrive at this local community center, and so I start holding on to the car door. She pulls me out of the car, hold on to the door for dear life. I didn't want, did not want to go in. She kind of pulls me off the door, and then, like a snowplow, pushes me in into the door and says, Bye, I'll see you back at five. And she made me go every week because she said she already paid for it. And how did you get on? So I pretended to be somebody else and I put on an American accent. I don't know why. And go, Hi there, how are you? And I just start talking in this completely different voice. I guess I'd watched a lot of American TV shows. And that was the only way I could cope with the stress of having to communicate with these strangers I didn't know.

Presenter22:41

How did you

Rebel Wilson23:03

And then eventually what happens with acting is you play these different characters and some are confident and then you you get a bit of the confidence rubs off on you somehow. And then in real life you become more confident.

Presenter23:16

And you were on course to become a lawyer, but then you took a trip to South Africa as a youth ambassador for a year as part of a programme that you were working on there. And everything changed.

Rebel Wilson23:27

What happened? So I went on this one trip at the high school I was stationed at and then we're coming back through rural Mozambique and we didn't have time to set up the tent so we just slept under the truck that night and so I didn't put up any mosquito nets or anything and I woke up and the one side of my face that was exposed to the air had about a hundred mosquito bites. Two weeks later sure enough the malaria develops in my system. I lost my hearing for the two weeks while I was in the hospital and then I just started hallucinating and it was like full-blown hallucination that I was an actress and that I win an Academy Award and I do an acceptance rap. So you do accept

Presenter24:05

So you accept via the medium of rap.

Rebel Wilson24:08

It was so, so real that I come out of hospital and say, Oh, I think I'm gonna become an actress now.

Rebel Wilson24:14

And even though nobody looked at me and would have thought actress, like nobody I'd gotten into the top law school in Sydney, I was gonna go. And so I did go, but I also did acting at night.

Presenter24:26

Well we'll find out where that dream took you next in a moment, Rebel Wilson. But first I think we'd better have some more music and I think this track might actually hint at that that love of rap music too.

Rebel Wilson24:36

Oh yeah, why I was into rapping because I used to have a little rap group with my sister.

Rebel Wilson24:42

Which I think was called something dorky like sisters but with a Z. And we used to go in a few talent competitions because even though I was a shy kid, I just was obsessed with like the swagger and confidence that rappers had. But one of the main songs we used to do, there was a group called Crisscross when I was young. And there were two cool rappers and they had wore their pants backwards, baggy jeans and their baseball caps. And the song that we used to cover of theirs was called I Miss the Bus. Like, I went to bed late, but I didn't think late would affect me. Early came around, then late wouldn't let me. Wake up, wake up, so I could get dressed because my body was mad because I gave her no rest. So, I mean, I guess I rapped with a slight Australian accent.

Presenter25:22

An accent.

Rebel Wilson25:23

Being an 11-year-old girl, I was like, okay, rapping about missing the bus, like, that's kind of cool. Yeah, it wasn't hardcore.

Speaker 425:32

I missed the bus. Oh, I missed the bus.

Speaker 425:37

I missed the bus, I missed the bus. I went to bed late, but I didn't think late would affect me. Only came around them late ones let me wake up, wake up so I can get dressed. I guess my body was mad, cause I gave it no rest. And when I finally didn't work, it was a quarter to eight. Jumped in the shower and I knew I was late. Stepped out, put on my jeans and my unit. Said to myself, if I miss school when I ruin it, I ran down the hill and I rush, rush. I ran down the hill, trying to catch the bus.

Rebel Wilson25:45

Let me

Presenter26:03

I miss the bus. Every word, Rebel Wilson, I'm impressed. I miss the bus, crisscross. So, Rebel Wilson, by the time you move to LA in twenty ten,

Speaker 426:06

Yeah. But

Rebel Wilson26:06

Impressed.

Speaker 426:07

I missed the boat.

Rebel Wilson26:08

Puss.

Presenter26:13

You'd already made a name for yourself in Australia. You were writing and performing in T V shows and series over there. You were determined to crack Hollywood though. How did you cope with that kind of reset? You know, those starting again, uh, trying to get a break? No.

Rebel Wilson26:27

No money, no friends? Well, I guess I felt like if I could get in one Hollywood movie, that would be legit.

Rebel Wilson26:33

And then maybe my mum would finally be like, oh yeah, she is an actress and not just keep hoping I'd go back into law school.

Rebel Wilson26:40

And so here I go. I get on the plane.

Rebel Wilson26:43

And I've only got one suitcase and a duna, which do you guys call it? Is it a duvet? Yeah, same thing as a duvet. We just call it a duna for some reason.

Presenter26:48

Yeah, same thing as a

Rebel Wilson26:51

And I I knew one girl

Rebel Wilson26:54

who I'd been on an Australian T V show with, and she let me stay on their couch in her apartment she shared with another roommate for a hundred dollars a week.

Rebel Wilson27:02

And I sold everything I had in order to fund this trip. And I thought I'll give myself a year. And if I make it, I do.

Rebel Wilson27:11

It was kind of, I was living just north of Hollywood Boulevard, which, if you go to LA, like it's not very glamorous. And every day I'd walk up the hill and the Hollywood sign was up there. And I'd just like go, Hollywood, like I just keep focused on this dream. And then I eventually got my own apartment in the complex and moved into that. And I had like a one bed and then I had one TV and I found an ironing board out in the rubbish bins. And I put the TV on the ironing board and then I bought one like $10 chair from Home Depot.

Presenter27:37

Uh

Rebel Wilson27:43

And that was my chair. It had a cup holder. So I thought that was glamorous. And then that was kind of like my first year in America. I had budgeted $60 a week to live on.

Presenter27:45

I thought that was glamorous.

Presenter27:53

You know, you got bridesmaids quite early, but then it didn't come out for a long time. So when it did, I mean, it just.

Rebel Wilson27:57

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson28:00

Oh, and he was like it caught fire and then I my booked six movies in the two weeks after Bridesman's came out. Six. Yeah. And even though I became famous later in life compared to a lot of people in my business, it just it still kind of hits you and and it can affect you and can throw off your perception of reality at times. It's an adjustment.

Presenter28:00

Oh, and they just like it.

Presenter28:05

Yeah.

Presenter28:18

It's an adjustment. People start to react to you very differently.

Rebel Wilson28:21

Yeah, yeah, and so you've got to stay grounded, and it can be difficult sometimes. Who helped you do that?

Presenter28:26

Uh

Rebel Wilson28:27

Especially in the new town. I mean I loved when I'd lived moved out of that apartment complex and then moved in with Matt Lucas who I'd met on Bridesmaids. He was like an older brother who he'd been through at all in the UK and he just would give me advice about how to handle stuff. So he was a great help. But it's not like anyone in my family was in entertainment. They didn't know what to say or.

Presenter28:28

Especially in the new term.

Rebel Wilson28:50

Or how to help. So it's, yeah, there's not really anyone that goes, okay, now your life's going to change because you're in a hit movie. Babble, you.

Presenter28:57

When on to star in the Pitch Perfect franchise and in twenty sixteen you starred alongside Sasha Baron Cohen in the film Grimsby. Now you've recently made some serious allegations about him.

Presenter29:07

saying he made you feel humiliated and uncomfortable when you were working together. Why did you si decide to speak out about your experience after all the

Rebel Wilson29:16

This time.

Rebel Wilson29:17

In one way to release the shame that I had for staying in a situation that wasn't great, that was my worst professional experience. And that was where it crossed the line. It wasn't comedy. It just crossed the line into an experience where, yeah, I did feel humiliated and degraded for being an overweight woman.

Rebel Wilson29:42

Even though at the time I reported it, nothing really happened at the time. And I stayed in a situation and had things said to me and stuff that I should have left and the me now would have been strong enough, but back then I just

Rebel Wilson29:59

I didn't have enough self-esteem to leave and I thought I'd be labelled as unprofessional if I left.

Presenter30:06

I should say Sasha Baron Cohen has denied these allegations, but how did you feel having told your story and actually seen it reported and people talking about it in the media?

Rebel Wilson30:18

I mean, I'm so proud of my story. I'm so proud of where I've come. And when you're like, oh, well, how could that girl be successful and have low self-worth? Well, this is an instance where you can see that, yeah, I clearly didn't feel great about myself because of things that had happened. Do you feel better having talked about it and having put it out there? Yeah, I guess it's a. A final like release of the emotions of it.

Rebel Wilson30:43

And if it can help a few people out there, then it's worth it. Rebel, let's have some more music. What's it going to be next? Okay, this is a song from Pitch Perfect 2 that I sing. I was lucky to get a solo because with such a big ensemble cast, it's kind of hard to get the solos. But this is a Pat Benatar song called We Belong that I sing. I start by rowing across a lake to my love interest, Bumper, played by Adam Devine. It's quite a scene, and you have quite a screen kiss. It was quite physical, and I actually won an MTV movie award for Best Kiss after this kiss, which, you know, I guess is my only kissing award ever. And I just love this God. This day was so hot filming this: rowing across a lake and then stumbling up the embankment and then going up and kissing Adam. So I love this song in the film, and I love the song in general.

Presenter31:16

After his skin.

Speaker 431:40

We belong to the sound of the world

Speaker 431:43

First born in a bird

Speaker 431:47

Whatever we deny or the grace, give us all for better.

Presenter32:03

We belong, Pat Benitar. So Rebel Wilson, when you were starting out in Australia, you found it a challenge to get the acting roles you wanted to play. Is that why you started writing your own material?

Rebel Wilson32:14

It was really a necessity because when I tried to get an agent as a young actor and they looked at me and go, oh, well we can't really see you on Home and Away, which is a show that's very popular. It's where people are in swimwear basically on a beach. So was that about your size then? Yeah, mainly I guess. I just I wasn't a looker like in the way like Nicole Kidman was and I got diagnosed with PCOS, polycystic ovarian syndrome. And that can have quite a large effect on your weight.

Presenter32:28

So that was

Rebel Wilson32:42

Yeah, so basically I gained thirty kilos in about six months.

Presenter32:42

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson32:47

That must have been tough gaining that weight in such a short period of time. I mean, how did you feel about it?

Presenter32:47

Uh

Rebel Wilson32:52

Because I went from being a very normal size to then all of a sudden being a plus size person.

Rebel Wilson32:59

And for me, I guess how my personality is, I'm like, well, this is seen as a negative by a lot of people in the acting industry. You didn't really see many plus size actresses. And I was like, oh, but being plus size means you can go into comedy.

Presenter33:12

So that all started to work really well for you. And and you used the same strategy, I think, when you first went to the States. You started working in in Hollywood and were kind of leaning into what was less represented on screen, perhaps.

Rebel Wilson33:21

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson33:25

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson33:27

in a world obsessed with like a a thin beauty standard in Hollywood, there were very few plus size actresses. And I came and then I was so different that I I guess that's why I got signed by William Morris Endeavour in in Hollywood and

Presenter33:41

That's your agency.

Rebel Wilson33:42

Yeah.

Presenter33:42

Yeah. So your character in in Pitch Perfect, she was on the page called Fat Amy. I mean seeing that, did you have any qualms? Any

Rebel Wilson33:48

I mean seeing

Rebel Wilson33:50

Worries about the name? I don't know how best to describe it apart from I had agency over the character and it wasn't a a joke about being fat, it was just that was part of her personality and she claimed it and she owned it.

Presenter34:03

Uh

Rebel Wilson34:03

Good.

Presenter34:03

It isn't it, because obviously you were succeeding so well on screen and you were very proud to represent another kind of beauty outside of this narrow definition of the norm.

Presenter34:12

But I know that it wasn't as simple as that for you because there were other things going on for you emotionally back then.

Rebel Wilson34:18

Yeah. So on the one hand, I mean, I'm still like massively I'm such a body positive person in that I see beauty in any shape and size. And yet at the same time,

Rebel Wilson34:28

I was feeling like I know deep down I'm engaging in very unhealthy behaviors and I was ashamed of my emotional eating. Part of it, you're like, oh my god, like I've become internationally famous by playing a character called Fat Amy. I'm living this great life. I earn millions of dollars. And then the other part of me going, no, you're coming home alone. You are lonely and sad. And yes, you might be successful, but you don't have anything else in your life. You haven't had a relationship. So it was like battling, but then you're like, no, shut up because you're doing so well. And look, you've made it in Hollywood. And aren't you happy about that? And I'm like, yeah, I'm happy, but I'm also.

Rebel Wilson35:09

I just know it's not right. Like I just know things are. Psychologically it sounds.

Presenter35:11

I just know psychologically it sounds like you knew you knew there was stuff there that you needed to work on. So you decided to make 2020 your year of health.

Rebel Wilson35:16

Mm-hmm.

Rebel Wilson35:19

Yeah. I suddenly realize, okay, I know my career has been my sole focus, but now I think I want to have a family. And I went to see a doctor because one of the Pitch Perfect girls had told me about her doctor where she froze her eggs. And I go and he kind of looks me up and down and says, Well, you'd have a much better chance if you were healthy. And I go, Can I actually lose weight and become healthier? I don't know. I didn't know whether I could, but I'm like, you know what? Seeing as I'm a person that's used to having a goal and going after it, I'm going to make this goal the year of health. And in terms of.

Presenter35:47

Going off.

Presenter35:50

Instead of making that change, how much of what you had to do was physical and how much was psychological?

Rebel Wilson35:56

The one thing I'd never ever tried was anything emotional. So I'd never done any therapy or anything like that. And I found a doctor who specialised in your emotions and then how that affects you physically. And I started delving into like the emotions of why I would eat and why I would feel unlovable and why I would have low self-worth and why I was thinking of myself as trash and that's why I was feeding myself trash because I didn't think I deserved any better. But then months into it, things just start to click.

Presenter36:29

I mean, I wonder about body positivity and kind of flying the flag for that, because that must have been a little bit complicated. I know there was a certain amount of pushback from your team when you first said you wanted to take on this year of health. They were like, well, everything's working really well as things are from a commercial perspective. And you do have the kind of expectations of your fans and your audience around the world. How do you navigate that?

Rebel Wilson36:44

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson36:52

Obviously my team thought I've created this amazing pigeonhole for myself playing the fat funny girl and I was earning millions of dollars per movie so why would you want to change? They're very confused but they're not me and they get about earning money and so I made the choice thinking well it could ruin my career. But I made that choice anyway to try to have a family and not develop any serious diseases which was the right thing to do. It was just against what my team had thought. So I'm not disowning, I'm very aware of where I came from and what I represented. I'm just maybe representing now in a different way.

Rebel Wilson37:30

It's time for

Presenter37:30

Some more music What do you

Rebel Wilson37:32

You take it next.

Presenter37:32

And why?

Rebel Wilson37:33

Well, get ready, Island. It's a song called Let Me Entertain You by Robbie Williams. Why I like this is this kind of was my motto all coming up in my career, this gutsy, like, Let Me Entertain You people, like, ah, like, come on, come on, come on, come on. It just really.

Presenter37:46

I

Rebel Wilson37:52

has been my vibe throughout my career, so that's why I love this song.

Speaker 437:56

All is gone in heaven's ear, there's nothing left for you to fear. Shake your ass, come over here, now scream!

Speaker 438:04

I'm a burning effigy of everything I used to be. You're my rock of empathy, mate.

Speaker 438:11

I'm here.

Speaker 438:15

Let's continue.

Speaker 438:19

Let me

Presenter38:27

Let me entertain you, Robbie Williams. Rebel Wilson, you met your fiancé Ramona in twenty twenty one. Now, not long after you got together, the Sydney Morning Herald contacted your publicist and asked you to comment on the details of your relationship for an article that they were planning to run about the two of you.

Rebel Wilson38:43

How did you feel when you got the call? I wasn't hiding my relationship with Ramona, but it was something we were slowly telling people in our lives. It was obviously very different for me to be dating a woman. Ramona's originally from Latvia, which is probably not as progressive in LGBTQ sentiment. So it suddenly put us in a situation where we were forced to announce it to the world probably a few months before. So it wasn't like.

Rebel Wilson39:10

We were that far off, but there were definitely people in my family that didn't know, and her family. And so I just decided to put it on Instagram and announce it myself because I wasn't.

Rebel Wilson39:21

gonna let some journalists do it. I also thought in at this point

Rebel Wilson39:25

Why are people outing people? Or, like, I thought we had moved past that as a society, because it really doesn't really matter what somebody's sexuality is. Like, it was just something that I was just slowly telling people in my life because you have to have these big conversations with people, and it takes a lot of energy. And I'm lucky in my case, even though I came from a very conservative background.

Presenter39:38

Bye because

Rebel Wilson39:48

It went very, very well. I mean, I remember having to tell my mum and us singing, oh God, what's she gonna say? And she was like, Oh, that's great, darling. What colour do you think I should paint the side fence? Do you think olive green or what do you think?

Presenter39:57

Do you think

Rebel Wilson39:59

So she kind of was so amazing. My grandparents were in their 90s, like so, just so chilled and cool with it. Ramona's family, not as much. Her mum's luckily come around now. Her father still doesn't talk to her. But we're hoping that will change. But it just was stressful that we were forced to do something before we were quite ready to announce that to the world. So how did you what did you

Presenter40:02

Uh

Presenter40:22

And so

Presenter40:23

Right, because also, as you say, your relationship's just developing, so you know, there's that element to it as well.

Rebel Wilson40:29

Yeah, I put it on on Instagram, a nice picture of one of our first dates. And I just thought all this time I thought I was looking for a Disney prince, but maybe what I really needed was a Disney princess.

Rebel Wilson40:41

So the Sydney mode

Presenter40:41

Morning Herald later apologised for the article and happily your relationship with Ramona has flourished. So if you got engaged last year, congratulations.

Rebel Wilson40:47

Engaged last year. Congratulations.

Presenter40:51

But before that you also had some big news to tell her and that was to do with you planning a family.

Rebel Wilson40:57

Yeah, so I think it was three only three months in. I'd already been planning to use a surrogate to have a child and I'd done several rounds of IBF and I had one embryo transfer which sadly didn't work and so almost right at meeting Ramona I was planning on the second embryo transfer. I only had two embryos and I was like

Rebel Wilson41:22

Babe, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm going to have a child kind of around November. So, if you're not into it, that's totally fine. You are not obligated to stay, and I have no idea whether you're wanting children, but I've got to tell you this because this is happening and this is in the works. So, Ramona just looked at me and said.

Rebel Wilson41:42

Well, I love you, and if you have a child, I'm going to love your child exactly the same way.

Rebel Wilson41:47

And now I went from somebody thinking, oh, maybe I'll never get married and have a family. And then now here I am in a very untraditional way, but.

Presenter41:51

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson41:56

Suddenly it's like bang and and we're an instant family.

Rebel Wilson42:00

Think we better have some music, Rebel.

Presenter42:02

Uh

Rebel Wilson42:02

This is the song that I played when I proposed to Ramona. I proposed at Disneyland. We were going there for Valentine's Day, and Bob Iger had agreed to give me permission to section off a segment of the park that was private. And I had flowers all arranged, and a violinist playing this song, which is Can You Feel the Love Tonight from Elton John from the musical The Lion King? And she was so surprised because I think she knew it was coming, but she didn't know it was coming that day.

Rebel Wilson42:35

And she just started crying as soon as she worked out this was a proposal. And I got down on one knee and then she eventually just got down on her knees. She didn't know what to do. And I proposed to her whilst this song was playing.

Speaker 442:47

And can you feel the love tonight?

Speaker 442:55

It is where we are.

Speaker 443:03

It's enough.

Speaker 443:05

But it's a wide-eyed wanderer

Speaker 443:10

That we got this fall

Presenter43:18

Can you feel the love tonight? Elton John.

Presenter43:20

Rebel Wilson, your daughter Royce, was born in 2022. What qualities would you like to pass on to her?

Rebel Wilson43:27

Oh gosh, so she's sh she's a year and a half now and she's absolutely thriving. Um I would like her to have my work ethic. I wouldn't want her to have my extreme shyness and she's showing signs of not being that, so so that's kind of good. Uh I like her to have the confidence and and self worth, which is something that I struggled with, and to always feel loved and to know that she could go out into the world as a little girl and and do whatever she she wants to do in life.

Presenter43:58

Rebel, we're going to send you to the island shortly. That will be a very different challenge from anything that you're used to. How do you feel about being a castaway on the desert island?

Rebel Wilson44:07

Oh, I love desert islands. I had my 40th birthday on an island, Marlon Brando's private island in the South Pacific. It was beautiful. So that's what you're picturing.

Presenter44:15

Yeah.

Presenter44:16

So that's what you're picturing.

Rebel Wilson44:18

Yeah, so when I'm picturing this desert island, I'm kind of picturing that. Although that one has a luxury resort on it.

Presenter44:23

Yeah, this not so much.

Rebel Wilson44:24

But it was very eco-friendly, that resort.

Presenter44:27

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson44:27

Yeah.

Presenter44:28

So how will you get on there? I mean, apart from the climate being right and it looking like paradise, do you enjoy your own company? How will you be with the isolation?

Rebel Wilson44:35

I love my own company. Yeah.

Presenter44:37

Yeah.

Rebel Wilson44:37

I would probably. I mean, you'd feel sad if you never saw anybody else ever again, wouldn't you? Sure. But.

Rebel Wilson44:44

I don't know. I do love being by myself. What about your survival skills? Are you practical? Cool.

Rebel Wilson44:50

I wouldn't say practical. I mean, I'm good at writing a script or solving a maths equation. I don't know whether I'd be that great opening up a coconut.

Rebel Wilson45:00

I'd give it a go though. Yeah.

Presenter45:02

One more track before you go then, Rebel. Your last choice today, what's it gonna be and why are you taking it with you?

Rebel Wilson45:07

This might be too much information for people, but basically when my little daughter Royce, the embryo is being transferred into the surrogate, my doctor likes to play a song that's giving positivity to the embryo. And so the song she played is the Beatles classic called Here Comes the Sun.

Speaker 445:27

Little darling, it's been a long, cold, lonely winter.

Speaker 445:35

Yeah.

Speaker 445:36

It feels like years since it's been here

Speaker 445:42

Here comes the sun

Speaker 445:46

Here comes the summon I say

Speaker 445:49

It's alright.

Presenter45:56

The Beatles, here comes the sun. So, Rabba Wilson, the time has come. I'm going to send you away to the island. I'm giving you the Bible, the complete works of Shakespeare, and you can take one other book of your choice. What will that be?

Rebel Wilson46:07

One other book, I've chosen Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Rolling off. Yeah, that to me as a kid was just my heaven. I just love all of his stuff. My mum used to read that book to me, and I just love it. Well, it's yours. You can also have a luxury item. What would you like?

Presenter46:11

Roll.

Rebel Wilson46:24

I'm gonna choose a bathtub with

Presenter46:27

Bath salts. Oh, okay. Do you want it indoor, outdoor? I mean, on the island, we could do one of those fancy bathtubs that you sometimes see. It could be outdoors, yeah.

Rebel Wilson46:35

Just be outdoors. Yeah. Yeah. And just an outdoor bathtub that hopefully would have fresh water. Oh, yeah. And I put some beautiful smelling salts or bath oils in there. That's something I do at the end of pretty much every day. I love having baths.

Presenter46:41

And I put some

Presenter46:44

Then

Rebel Wilson46:49

And being kind of a sensitive person, and when you just have that bath at the end of the day, it kind of washes everything off.

Presenter46:57

Finally, which track of the eight that you've shared with us today would you rush to save from the wave's first rebel?

Rebel Wilson47:04

Oh, are they'cause they so they mean everything.

Rebel Wilson47:07

To me.

Rebel Wilson47:09

I'm gonna maybe choose always look on the bright side of life,'cause then if they find me and I'm like a skeleton if I've been there for way too long, at least like people could have a laugh when they listen to that song.

Presenter47:23

Robert Wilson, thank you very much for letting us hear your desert island discs. Thank you so much.

Presenter47:51

Hello, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Rebel and I hope she enjoys luxuriating in her bathtub. We've cast many actors away, including Brian Cox and Stephen Graham and fellow Australians Nicole Kidman and Kate Blanchett. You can find their episodes in our Desert Island Discs programme archive and through BBC Sounds. The studio manager for today's programme was Bob Nettles. The production coordinator was Susie Roylance. The assistant producer was Christine Pavlovsky and the producer was Paula McGinley. The series editor is John Gowdy. Next time, my castaway will be the businesswoman Shireen Curry Hark. I do hope you'll join us.