Rebel Wilson’s memoir has only just hit shelves but it’s already making headlines. Firstly, there were the allegations made against her Grimsby co-star Sacha Baron Cohen, who the Australian actress branded an ‘asshole.’ But now, a new subject has got people talking – perceived tension between Rebel and Britain's national treasure, Adele.
Writing in Rebel Rising, which was released on Thursday 4 April, the Pitch Perfect star wrote that she believes British singer Adele ‘hates’ her because the pair were allegedly compared before Adele’s weight loss.
‘Some actresses would get offended if I called them plus-size in this book, so I have to be careful with what I say. This is why, I think, Adele hates me,’ Rebel wrote. 'There was a moment when she was bigger, and some people would confuse us for one another. I am assuming, because to be fair I’ve never asked her.’
Continuing, Rebel claims that while she and Adele have crossed paths at a number of public events, the ‘Hello’ singer would ‘quickly’ turn away if she saw Rebel. ‘As if my fatness might rub off on her if I were near her for more than thirty seconds. That she didn’t like being compared to [her Pitch Perfect character] “Fat Amy”,’ she wrote.
Both Adele and Rebel experienced fatphobia in their careers, and have spoken candidly about their relationships with weight loss. Rebel lost around 36kg in 2020, after allegedly being banned from losing weight under her Pitch Perfect contract. 'I was stereotyped in playing that fat, funny friend, which is so hard because I love those roles,” she said. 'I love doing the roles, I love those characters. But then I did want to do more things, but I felt like being the bigger girl, you’re just more pigeonholed.'
However, as Rebel’s quotes about Adele were shared online, social media users pointed out that Rebel was making some pretty big assumptions about the singer. As Rebel herself said, she ‘never asked’ Adele about the perceived slighting, and the singer has not responded to the claims in the book.
Many X (formerly Twitter) users poked fun at the quotes, with one branding it a ‘made-up scenario’ on Rebel’s part. ‘This seems like projection,’ another tweet read. ‘I think she’s reaching a lil,’ one commenter wrote.
‘This statement by Rebel Wilson comes across as unnecessarily harsh and speculative towards Adele and perpetuates harmful stereotypes about body image,’ another post read, while one social media user wrote, ‘Adele is the most unproblematic person ever but OK.’