Rebel Wilson Says Pitch Perfect Contract Didn't Allow Her to Lose Weight: 'I Wanted to Get Healthier'
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP/Shutterstock Rebel Wilson at the premiere of the Netflix film "Senior Year"
Despite wanting to lose weight, Rebel Wilson was required to maintain her size for five years while filming Pitch Perfect.
The 42-year-old actress — known for her starring role as Fat Amy in the beloved films — appeared on Alex Cooper's Call Her Daddy podcast and revealed that she had to wait until Pitch Perfect was over before focusing on her health. The movie and its two sequels spanned from 2012 to 2017.
"I couldn't lose a massive amount of weight, because I was in the contracts for that movie," Wilson explained. "You can't lose I think it's not more than 10 lbs. or gain more than 10 lbs. You have to kind of stay at the weight that's in your contract."
"I had been thinking for awhile that I want to get healthier and I was stereotyped in playing that fat, funny friend," she added, referring to similar roles she played in Bridesmaids and How to Be Single. "I love doing those roles, I love those characters, but then I did want to do more things. But then I felt like being the bigger girl, you're just more pigeonholed."
Wilson, who noted that she gained 100 lbs. in college due to her polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), told Cooper that she didn't make any strides toward losing weight until she was approaching 40 and wanted to become a mom.
Brownstone Prods/Kobal/Shutterstock Rebel Wilson as Fat Amy in Pitch Perfect (2012)
RELATED: Rebel Wilson Got 'Pushback' from Her Team When She Started Losing Weight
"I went to see a fertility doctor and he was like, 'Well, you'd have a much better chance with fertility if you were healthier.' And I was like, 'Oh my God what's he talking about?' Because my life is like a Lizzo song, where I'm like bad b— o'clock. But then I have this stranger saying, 'Look at you, you're not healthy,'" the actress recalled, adding that she's a huge body positive person.
"It really hit me hard because I was living this fantastic bigger life and didn't have any serious diseases or anything," she said. "And that kind of made me reexamine, yeah when I think about it I'm doing things that aren't healthy."
From that point, Wilson said she became healthier "slowly" as she was turning 40.
Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from juicy celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.
When it comes to weight loss, the Australian star's Pitch Perfect contract wasn't the only thing preventing her from getting healthier. Wilson shared in December 2021 that she also didn't have the full support of those around her when she began her health journey.
During an interview with BBC News, the actress opened up about some of the negative responses she received when beginning her "year of health," mainly due to her career as the "funny fat girl" on screen.
"I got a lot of pushback from my own team actually, here in Hollywood, when I said 'Okay, I'm going to do this year of health, I feel like I'm really gonna physically transform and change my life,' " Wilson recounted.
"And they were like, 'Why? Why would you wanna do that?' Because I was earning millions of dollars being the funny fat girl and being that person," she said at the time.
The previous year, Wilson lost nearly 80 lbs. after addressing her "emotional eating" habits. She questioned why people are "so obsessed" with women and their looks, slamming the idea that she wasn't "seen as traditionally beautiful."
