Rebel Wilson Sees Her Body as an Asset in Hollywood: "Bigger Girls Do Better in Comedy"

"It's very hard to laugh at someone who's very attractive, I think," she tells Australia's Daily Life

By Zach Johnson Jan 27, 2015 2:18 PMTags
Rebel WilsonDon Arnold/WireImage

"Bigger girls do better in comedy."

So says Rebel Wilson, who will reprise her role as "Fat Amy" this spring in Universal Pictures' musical comedy Pitch Perfect 2. "I took something that was seen as a disadvantage--no one thinks, if you're fat, that you're going to be an actress and everyone's going to love you--and turned it into a positive," she tells Australia's Daily Life.

Why does Wilson think "bigger girls do better in comedy?"

"I don't know why," says Wilson, who's also starred Bachelorette and Bridesmaids. "Maybe because people find it easier to laugh. It's very hard to laugh at someone who's very attractive, I think. And normally those people don't have a great personality anyway."

"The odds of an Australian girl making it in Hollywood is, like, one in 25 million," she says. So, how did she make it? "I'm lucky. But I also think I worked hard. I deserve it."

The actress' self-deprecating sense of humor about her fuller figure has served her well, too. "One time I got X-rayed by a chiropractor and he goes, 'You know, you don't actually have a big build,'" the Pain & Gain star, 28, says with a laugh. "It's like, 'You're just fat!'"

Wilson has considered losing weight, but it's unlikely to happen. "I do have these dreams, like, 'What if I just went to a health farm and lost 50 kilos? What would happen? Would it affect my career?'" the actress admits. "But then I think, that's never going to happen."

The Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb star has been a body positive star for years. Despite signing up for the Jenny Craig weight loss program in 2012, Wilson decided to quit her commitment to the diet plan after losing 30 lbs. "Because of my filming commitments in America you have to sign contracts where you can't change your physical appearance," she said on The Kyle and Jackie O Show, a syndicated Australian radio program, in February 2013.

Last summer, the Australian actress took to Twitter twice to debunk weight loss rumors. "If you see a post about me relating to some "diet" product: this is a SCAM. Police alerted," Wilson told her followers. "They are unlawfully using my name and image. PLEASE IGNORE." Two months later, in August, she added, "Hey loves, again, If you see an image of me pop up in relation to a weight loss product/miracle pill: DO NOT CLICK, it is a scam. Trying to stop the idiots who are trying to get away with this illegal use of my image."

(E! and Universal Pictures are both part of the NBCUniversal family.)