Rebel Wilson Comes Out After Columnist Sought to Write About Her Relationship
Fans and friends of Rebel Wilson collectively rejoiced and congratulated the comedian and actress when she posted a photo of herself and her girlfriend, Ramona Agruma, on Instagram. Wilson used the post to effectively announce the relationship and her own queerness with the caption, “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince … but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess,” followed by two heart emoji, a rainbow emoji, and the #loveislove hashtag.
Though, as the weekend came and went, it’s now clear that Wilson’s coming out likely had outside influence. In the days following, it was revealed that a gossip columnist for The Sydney Morning Herald had reached out to Wilson’s team earlier in the week. The columnist, Andrew Hornery, told Wilson’s team via email that even though information about her partner hadn’t been made public, he had “several sources who have confirmed their status” and enough details to publish.
Wilson and her team were given two days to respond and ultimately didn’t. She posted the photo to Instagram early Friday (Sydney, Australia-time) just before the 1 p.m. deadline Hornery relayed to her team.
View this post on Instagram
Hornery published the Saturday column anyway, with a new angle. In the column, which has since been removed from the paper’s website, Hornery says he gave Wilson’s team two days to comment and that Wilson opted to “gazump” the story (“gazump” is a slang term meaning that one person unfairly outbid or beat another) in reference to her Instagram post—essentially complaining that Wilson scooped the publication.
“Considering how bitterly Wilson had complained about journalism standards when she successfully sued Women’s Day for defamation, her choice to ignore our discreet, genuine, and honest queries was, in our view, underwhelming,” he writes.
The column was met with outrage on social media, as the public connected the dots and accused the publication of coercing Wilson into revealing her relationship, effectively forcing her to come out so she wouldn’t be outed by the paper. It was followed by another article by the newspaper’s editor, who defended the columnist and denied accusations that the paper “outed Wilson.”
Wilson hasn’t made any public statements on the matter, aside from a tweet in reply to another tweet featuring the now-deleted Saturday column and a caption explaining the situation.
“Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace,” Wilson tweets.
Hornery penned a new column, published on Monday, titled “I made mistakes over Rebel Wilson, and will learn from them.” It recounts his perspective, says, “We mishandled steps in our approach,” and explains that he genuinely regrets that Wilson “has found this hard.” He also says that, as a gay man, he is “well aware” of how deeply discrimination hurts.
“In trying to tell the story within the story, which is what Private Sydney does, the tone of my column on Saturday was also off. I got it wrong. I allowed my disappointment to cast a shadow over the piece. That was not fair, and I apologize,” Hornery writes.
While there is a sense of justice in seeing the truth come to light, famous or not, no LGBTQ person should have to navigate being outed or be forced to come out. Wilson handled the situation with grace, and we’re immensely proud that she is part of our community.
Photo courtesy of Rebel Wilson on Instagram
What's Your Reaction?
