While promoting the new Netflix Top 10 film, Senior Year, Australian actress Rebel Wilson, who is also a producer of the film, has revealed her own #MeToo encounter. She shared how, a few years ago, an unnamed male co-star sexually harassed her and then tried to ruin her career.
The 42-year-old actress recounted her horrifying experience in an interview with the American entertainment magazine, People, which was published on 19 May 2022. Several years ago, Wilson was harassed by a male co-star, who she has not named. “He called me into a room and pulled down his pants,” she recalled. “Then in front of his friends, he asked her to perform a lewd act.”
“It was awful and disgusting,” she said. Wilson then went on to elaborate that, as this was before the #MeToo movement blew up, the male co-star and his friends “tried to destroy [her] and [her] career” after the incident.
How She Dealt with the Ordeal
The #MeToo movement gained traction in 2017 when the illicit deeds of defamed film mogul Harvey Weinstein came to light. “If it had happened after #MeToo, then I could have just blasted them,” said Wilson.
The actress, who is a lawyer and has a law degree from the University of New South Wales, did what she could at that time. “Because I’m a lawyer, I documented it. I called my rep. I got certain things in writing about what happened.”
She added that she “made sure people [in her industry circle] knew what happened”.
The incident is something she grapples with, to this day. She would often ponder why she stayed in that situation with “that awful guy”.
“I should have left. It wasn’t worth it. But at the same time, I was like, ‘Oh well, do the right thing, be a professional and finish the movie.’ Now I would never do that.”
Turns out, Wilson was not the only one who encountered such behaviour from the male co-star. “I found out I was like the fourth person to complain about the guy. Such gross behaviour, but a lot of women have had it way worse,” she said.
If something similar were to happen again, she said she would “probably stand up for [herself] even more”. She has been inspired by the bravery of the other women that have stood up and now allowed her to have an opportunity to do so.
Using her Platform for Good
It was because of her prior experiences that Rebel Wilson puts such heavy emphasis on respect during the production of Senior Year. “Because there’s a lot of young cast in the film, I wanted to make sure there’s a lot of respect for everybody,” she said about the set.
Wilson explained that she wants to have strong girl-power and female empowerment themes in the projects she works on. “I want to entertain people and I want people to walk away with something positive.”
“We made [Senior Year] with love, and we shot it in Atlanta and there’s so many new, fresh faces in the film who I’m very proud of as a producer. As the mama of the film in a way, I’m very, very proud of them and all the hard work that everybody did.”
About Senior Year
Senior Year is a new Netflix comedy starring Rebel Wilson. She plays Stephanie, a high school cheerleading captain who has everything a high school girl dreams of: popularity, a hot boyfriend, and the title of prom queen right at her fingertips. But that all comes crashing down when she falls off a pyramid and into a coma for 20 years.
20 years later, Stephanie wakes up in a 37-years-old’s body and is forced to reintroduce herself to a world where NSYNC have long been broken up and butterfly clips are only cool in an ironic Y2K revival sort of way.
However, his former queen bee is determined to finish her senior year on top and become prom queen. This is easier said than done, of course, as the high school hierarchy has changed over the years, and she will need more than a Tiffany bracelet to get back to where she used to be.
About Rebel Wilson
According to the Australian talent management agency Creative Representation, Rebel Wilson is an Australian actress, writer and producer. She has a double degree as Bachelor of Laws and Bachelor of Arts (Theatre and Film) at the University of New South Wales.
Her career started on the Sydney stages where she often wrote and produced her own work. This led to various television shows in Australia where she quickly became the most prominent female voice in Australian comedy.
In 2010, Wilson moved to the United States with her role in the cult classic Bridesmaids. Wilson is perhaps most known internationally for playing the role of Fat Amy in the Pitch Perfect trilogy, which are the highest-grossing musical comedy films of all time. Her other film credits include the Academy Award-winning Jojo Rabbit, Isn’t It Romantic, How To Be Single, and The Hustle.
Senior Year is now available to stream on Netflix.
