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Rebel Wilson on Weight: ‘I Saw My Size as Being an Advantage'

The Australian actress got candid about her weight in an interview with The Telegraph

Did Rebel Wilson get "fatter" to advance her career?

The Australian actress, who is best known for her role as Fat Amy in the "Pitch Perfect" movies, got candid about her weight in an interview with the U.K. newspaper The Telegraph that was posted over the weekend.

Wilson recalled a time when she wrote and starred in her first play and also cast a girl with a larger frame than her.

"And I was like, 'Oh. That girl's getting a lot of laughs, a lot easier than me. What is it?' Because I don't think there's much difference in talent. And I remember distinctly thinking, 'I think it's because she's fatter,'" Wilson said. "And then, I don't know if it was mega-conscious, but I thought, 'How can I get more laughs? Maybe if I was a bit fatter...' And then suddenly I was fatter, and doing comedy."

"I saw my size as being an advantage," she added. "Whereas so many women see it as a disadvantage."

Wilson had made similar comments in a 2015 interview with Australia's Daily Life.

"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 said, adding that "bigger girls do better in comedy."

Rebel Wilson's Best Looks

Wilson's breakout role was in the 2011 comedy movie "Bridesmaids." "Pitch Perfect" was released a year later and she reprised her role in a 2015 sequel. She will play Fat Amy again in a third film in the franchise, set for release in 2017.

Earlier this year, Wilson starred with Sacha Baron Cohen in his raunchy movie "The Brothers Grimsby" and appeared opposite "Fifty Shades of Grey's" Dakota Johnson in the comedy "How to Be Single."

Wilson also told The Telegraph she has a hormonal imbalance that makes her gain weight rapidly and is also able to change her body at will.

"Oh yeah! I'll take six months off, and just do a total transformation," she said. "But then, so many people go, 'Don't you do it!' But I think, 'Why not?'"

Wilson is in London performing the role of Adelaide in the hit musical "Guys and Dolls." She began a two-month-run last week. Wilson showcases her musical skills in the "Pitch Perfect" films and also performed the part of Ursula the sea witch in a limited Hollywood Bowl production of "The Little Mermaid" in June.

Stars Who Gained or Lost Weight for Roles

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