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Rebel Wilson on Hollywood's Pressure to Be Thin: I've Never Been Told to Lose Weight

Funny lady opens about body image

By Marc Malkin Jan 28, 2016 9:36 PMTags
Watch: Rebel Wilson on Inspiration for Plus-Size Fashion Line

Rebel Wilson had a very simple reason why she agreed to get into the fashion business.

"In the plus-size fashion market there wasn't really stuff out there that I saw that was kind of youthful and on trend," Wilson told me yesterday while promoting her new comedy How to Be Single (in theaters on Feb. 12, but more on that later).

The first collection of Rebel Wilson for Torrid debuted in November. "I didn't think I'd be able to design clothes," the Aussie funny lady said. "I thought, 'That's not in my repertoire.'"

Clearly, she's doing something right—her spring collection launches on Feb, 7.

I asked if there's someone she'd love to dress. After gushing about Torrid's plus-size models, the Pitch Perfect star laughed, "I'm trying to think. Why is Rosie O'Donnell coming into my head? That's not the right answer. I don't know. My clothes are for all the girls out there who are plus-size and just want something cute to wear for the weekend or for work."

While Hollywood is infamous for wanting women to be thin, Wilson says she's actually never felt the pressure.

"You know what? People say, 'Don't lose weight,'" Wilson revealed. "You don't want to be in that weird range of are you skinny or are you fat? Because how do you class yourself then? Weirdly, a lot of people say don't. But then I guess when you're doing movies with actresses who are super skinny and whatever and you got to do a photo shoot side by side…then you notice you're twice the weight they are.

"But for me, it's just about being comfortable in your own skin," she continued. "You never want to be like too unhealthy because that's bad. But you just want to be comfortable with who you are, whatever your size."

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In fact, Wilson said, "I exercise like a mofo. I do personal training like five times a week. I also love playing tennis. I'm a beast on the court."

And then she cracked, "I've been playing with a lot of retirees lately and they are very competitive but same ability athletic-wise. They're really good."

In all seriousness, Wilson explained, "When we film movies like How to Be Single, we shoot like 16 hours day and you're like giving it all day every day so you really got to have that stamina."