During her time in the spotlight, Rebel Wilson has often spoken out about her weight, and it’s been a part of her career in more ways than one. The Australian actor came to international fame in the Pitch Perfect movies, playing Fat Amy, a character who made jokes about her own size. Wilson collaborated with the plus-size fashion brand Torrid in 2015, has been outspoken about body image, and more recently, has talked about her experience losing weight and how she finds that people treat her differently now.
With Wilson’s past taken into account, many aren’t so happy with her latest business venture. The Senior Year star has released a new fashion collaboration, and it’s not going over well for a few reasons. Read on to find out why she’s being called out on social media and how she responded to the backlash.
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Wilson’s girlfriend, Ramona Agruma, has a loungewear line called Lemon Ve Limon. The two teamed up for a limited edition release called R&R Club, which features only a white hoodie and white sweatpants with R&R Club logos. Announcing the items in an Instagram video on Nov. 3, Wilson said, “These are super limited. Just a limited drop that we’re just doing as a little experiment.”
The hoodie is $179 while the pants are $149. The website reads, “Ramona and I have designed these limited edition hoodies and sweatpants and we hope you love it as much as we do!”
The sizes available for the hoodie and sweatpants are limited, with the hoodie ranging from XS to L/XL and the pants from XS to XL. The lack of expanded sizes is disappointing to many, especially because Wilson herself used to be plus-size.
A TikTok user named Destiny Ann said in a video, “I’m just confused. I don’t understand how someone who was plus-size for the majority of her career, the majority of her life. Someone who knows how hard it is to be fat, to shop for clothing, and actually find it in your size. I don’t understand how someone with that background, that knowledge, can release a brand that only goes up to an XL.”
The social media user added, “And, you know, people’s biggest argument for this is, ‘Oh, it’s so expensive to have so many size ranges.’ It’s Rebel Wilson. She got money. It’s so disheartening.”
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The conversation about Wilson’s line has continued over the past few days on Twitter, as well. One user wrote, “This whole Rebel Wilson situation is deep under my skin. She honestly put out a clothing line that doesn’t include any plus sizes, even combining L and XL. Her entire career was built around her mocking her own plus sized body.”
Another said, “Still sniggering at Rebel Wilson creating a clothing line that doesn’t cater to plus sizing. Absolutely wild scenes, but not surprising. Former fat people can sometimes end up being the worst when it comes to fatphobia and/or exclusion.”
“i don’t know what’s crazier; rebel wilson not having plus size clothing options even though she literally was just very plus size, or the fact that she’s charging over $100 for a pair of basically plain white sweats,” reads a tweet.
Another user wrote, “i think it’s so interesting how rebel wilson started off as a plus size individual and decided to make her clothing brand very size exclusive like fat people don’t deserve to wear clothes? like being a bigger person didn’t give you a point of view that small people don’t have…?”
In posts on her Instagram Story, Wilson indicated that she may be releasing more sizes and colors of the sweatsuit. But she did not directly mention or address the backlash.
“In success we are planning on doing more colors and sizes for R&R CLUB,” she wrote (via BuzzFeed News). “We are experimenting with this limited capacity collection of only two pieces in limited sizes.”
Wilson’s Instagram posts weren’t deemed satisfactory by some who are disappointed in the brand. A Twitter user wrote, “this was her response?? rebel wilson made it abundantly clear that she did not care about/consider fat people when she launched her brand, and NOW after facing backlash she’s ‘planning’ on doing more sizes while reminding us that fat people are nothing more than an after thought [sic].”
Another post reads, “I’m honestly so disgusted with @RebelWilson. As a former fat woman, she was supported by that community. To have her say as an afterthought ‘we plan to make more sizes in success’ is disheartening. Do better! Because those people supported you being FAT, not this greedy person.”
In the midst of this latest controversy, critics are bringing up past actions from Wilson that they found offensive. Among those instances are Wilson saying that she realized if she became fatter she would do better in comedy, and calling herself the first plus-size woman to star in a romantic comedy in reference to her 2019 film Isn’t It Romantic. Movie fans quickly pointed out that this comment overlooked Black actors, including Queen Latifah and Monique, who had already starred in rom-coms long before. After initially saying there was a “gray area” when it came to whether their movies counted, Wilson apologized for the comment.