Last Thursday, Rebel Wilson came out on her Instagram. She posted a photo of herself and Ramona Agruma, the woman she’s been seeing for months. Positive stories appeared in People Magazine about Rebel and Ramona, with sources saying that they’re very serious about one another and they’ve been dating since January and Rebel has never been happier. Now, Rebel’s coming out on Instagram was a surprise, but I think we all hoped Rebel did it because she was happy, right? Turns out, Rebel only came out because she was being threatened and harassed by an Australian newspaper, which was about to out her.
Rebel Wilson’s coming out announcement is under a microscope because of what was happening BTS … including a newspaper’s attempt to force her to comment beforehand. The Aussie actress — who just revealed she’s in a relationship with a woman — responded to an outraged journalist from Down Under, who couldn’t believe what the Sydney Morning Herald seems to be admitting … namely, that they had RW over a barrel with the story.
The reporter wrote, “So apparently it wasn’t @RebelWilson’s choice to come out… The @smh/@theage have admitted to giving her a heads up 2 days in advance that they were going to ‘out’ her.” She notes that openly gay men who work at SMH were involved too.
To that, Rebel wrote back … “Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace ❤️” In other words, she appears to be confirming this perception of an attempt to out her publicly, before she was ready to do so herself.
The article in question — which details what went into the process of trying to confirm the relationship — comes across as somewhat angry about the fact that Rebel evaded their questions, which they say they made 2 days in advance, and scooped them herself.
The author writes of the decision to ask her team for comment … “Big mistake. Wilson opted to gazump the story,” 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.”
As a result, many have accused the outlet of trying to out Rebel … but one of their editors, Bevan Shields, denied that characterization in a follow-up piece — offering more context. He says, “[W]e simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response. I had made no decision about whether or what to publish, and the Herald’s decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied.”
Shields adds, “Wilson made the decision to publicly disclose her new partner – who had been a feature of her social media accounts for months.” He says the paper wishes her well.
[From TMZ]
This situation feels like a throwback to twenty years ago – this is how the tabloid media operated back then. But everyone knows better now, there are GLAAD Media protocols for how, where and when journalists can write about someone’s sexuality or same-sex relationship. It’s not up to the SMH bitches to give Rebel an ultimatum, threatening to out her. And when she handled it herself, the SMH bitches were FURIOUS. How completely pathetic. You can see journalist Kate Doak’s Twitter thread about the situation here.
— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 12, 2022
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Instagram.
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