Rebel Wilson has broken her silence four months after a gossip columnist threatened to out her for being gay, forcing the actress to reveal she was in a same-sex relationship.
Speaking to The Australian on Thursday, the Australian star opened up about the “grubby behaviour”, detailing her pre-emptive announcement came before she and her girlfriend Ramona Agruma had told some family members they were a couple.
Wilson’s revealed her “Disney Princess” on Instagram in June, ahead of a planned story by Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Hornery that was going to out her sexuality and relationship.
“I just thought it was kind of grubby behaviour,” Wilson told The Australian.
“Basically, with the situation where a journalist is threatening to out you, you’ve got to hurry, and some people we didn’t get a chance to tell before it came out publicly. And that’s not ideal.”
Wilson said while a same-sex relationship was “not that big of a deal”, there were still some sensitive discussions to be had with both her and Agruma’s families before going public.
“There are levels to telling people,” Wilson said.
“You tell your close family and your friends and not everybody. Across our two families, not everybody is as accepting as what you’d hope for, and we were trying to be respectful to those people and tell them in our own way.”
She added the exposure had been particularly difficult for Agruma.
“It was just a hard few days, especially for my partner, who’s not used to being in the public eye and having to deal with stuff like that,” she said.
“It was probably more harmful for her in many respects. But to me, in 2022, love is love. I didn’t think it was that big of a deal and that we should kind of be forced to make an announcement about it. But that happened.”
In the now-deleted article, Hornery said he was going to break the story, “giving [Wilson] two days to comment on her new relationship with another woman, LA designer Ramona Agruma, before publishing a single word”.
He said he “erred on the side of caution and emailed Rebel Wilson’s representatives.”
“Big mistake,” he wrote.
“Wilson opted to gazump the story, posting about her new ‘Disney Princess’ on Instagram early yesterday, the same platform she had previously used to brag about her handsome ex-boyfriend, wealthy American beer baron Jacob Busch.”
The article provoked a global backlash and drew criticism from international news agencies and celebrities including The New York Times, Whoopi Goldberg, George Takei and Ronan Keating.
Hornery and SMH editor Bevan Shields published apologies for the coverage in June.
