Rebel Wilson breaks silence after SMH controversy: 'Very hard'

Rebel Wilson came out on Friday with a sweet post about her new girlfriend Ramona Agruma, describing her partner as a ‘Disney Princess’. Outraged fans have now discovered that the Pitch Perfect star may not have been ready to announce her relationship to the world, but was instead forced by the Sydney Morning Herald.

On Saturday, the SMH shocked fans when Andrew Hornery wrote a column complaining about Rebel’s choice to come out, saying the star ‘gazumped’ the publication by breaking the news before they could.

In his tone-deaf piece, the writer mentioned he had given Rebel two days to comment on her new relationship before SMH would run the story on Saturday. He then proceeded to be bitter that the actress decided to come out on her own terms, saying that giving her a heads up was a “big mistake”.

He proceeded to question her character, adding: "Considering how bitterly Wilson had complained about poor journalism standards when she successfully sued Woman’s Day for defamation, her choice to ignore our discreet, genuine and honest queries was, in our view, underwhelming."

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While he tries to say the publication went about the situation with “caution and respect”, the huge backlash proves otherwise.

Journalist Kate Doak soon took to Twitter to inform people about the situation, commenting: “So apparently it wasn’t Rebel Wilson’s choice to come out. The SMH & The Age 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.”

Rebel has now broken her silence, as she thanked Kate by writing, “Thank you for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace." The Senior Year star's tweet has already gained over 17,500 likes, showing that she has an abundance of support behind her.

The star has liked several tweets about how awful the situation has been, including one that reads: “This is thoroughly depressing. People should be able to come out when they are ready. It can be fraught with emotion, stress and even danger. Do better.”

“Absolutely LIVING for how stutteringly salty they are that Rebel Wilson outed herself on her own terms and robbed them of a story meant only to embarrass her. F**k off forever SMH,” another adds.

“Coming out can be hard, trust me I’ve done it. And it is that person’s story to tell when they are ready. No one should have that stolen from them. Plus it’s 2022, why is loving the same sex still newsworthy?” a third reads.

On Sunday, the SMH editor Bevan Shields released a brief note about the column, but didn’t admit the publication had done anything wrong and there was no apology directed towards the star.

“Our weekly Private Sydney celebrity column last week asked Wilson if she wished to comment about her new partner. We would have asked her the same questions had Wilson’s new partner been a man. To say the Herald “outed” Wilson is wrong,” he wrote.

This note infuriated people on Twitter, with many wondering why the publication hasn’t apologised for its behaviour.

“He said it’d be the same with [an] opposite-sex partner, it isn’t, you don’t risk friends, family, career, well-being and safety announcing straight relationships. Them asking ‘we know, and we could ruin your life whenever we like,’ no-one can live like that, they forced her hand,” an outraged person wrote.

“If it’s not true that they were going to out Rebel wonder why they used the word ‘gazump’,” another chimed in.

“He really did ALL OF THAT instead of just apologising,” added a third.

“The sheer audacity of ‘we’re just asking questions’, like that’s a neutral choice…wow,” wrote another.

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