Actress Rebel Wilson has posted on Instagram that she was in a relationship with her girlfriend, LA leisure wear designer Ramona Agruma. “I thought I was searching for a Disney Prince… but maybe what I really needed all this time was a Disney Princess,” she wrote. However, it’s been alleged that her decision to come out wasn’t entirely her own.
Two days after Wilson revealed to the world that she was dating a woman, the Sydney Morning Herald published a column by journalist Andrew Hornery. It was titled “Rebel starts spreading the news of relationship.” It details how the Australian publication reached out to Wilson to comment on her new relationship before publishing a single word two days before publication.
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“Big Mistake.” Horney writes. “Wilson opted to gazump the story, posting about her new ‘Disney Princess’ on Instagram early Friday morning, the same platform she had previously used to brag about her handsome ex-boyfriend, wealthy American beer baron Jacob Busch.”
The article states, “Considering how bitterly Wilson had complained about poor journalism standards when she successfully sued Woman’s Day for defamation, her choice to ignore our discreet, genuine and honest queries was, in our view, underwhelming. Who anyone dates is their business, but Wilson happily fed such prurient interest when she had a hunky boyfriend on her arm.”
This article was met with a wave of backlash from members and allies of the LGBTQ+ community. They alleged that giving Wilson a two-day deadline to comment on her current relationship pressured her into outing herself, as opposed to letting her disclose her sexuality to the public at a time and place of her choosing.
Wilson has seemed to corroborate that the Herald’s conduct was not appropriate. In response to Kate Doak posting a tweet criticizing the publication for what they had done, Wilson left a reply that went, “Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace.”
The Sydney Morning Herald’s response
In response, Brevan Shields, the editor of the Sydney Morning Herald, provided a statement on the matter Sunday morning, denying the criticism. He alleges that it was standard practice to ask Wilson a question that included a deadline for her response. That and they would have acted in accordance with whatever answer Wilson had given. However, the publication removed its column on Rebel Wilson a day after Shields defended it.
The column in question has since been taken down and replaced by a new one by Hornery titled “I made mistakes over Rebel Wilson, and will learn from them.” In it, he says that as a gay man, he’s aware of how much discrimination hurts, which was never his intention. Wilson’s management told him to send her an email:
“Our weekly Private Sydney celebrity column asked Wilson if she wished to comment about her new partner. We would have asked the same questions had Wilson’s new partner been a man. Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked the questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response."
“We made no decision about whether or what to publish, and our decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied. Wilson made the decision to publicly disclose her new partner – who had been a feature of her social media accounts for months. We wish them both well,” said Shields.
In the new column, Hornery reiterated that it was standard procedure to include a timeframe and that Wilson’s response would have determined what was published. Hornery states that his “email was never intended to be a threat but to make it clear I was sufficiently confident with my information and to open a conversation.” He admits the framing of it was a mistake and that the Herald and himself will now approach things differently.
“Good morning. I am a journalist from The Sydney Morning Herald and I was hoping I could get a comment from Rebel regarding her new relationship. While I realise Rebel’s partner has not been mentioned as yet, I have several sources who have confirmed their status and I have enough detail to publish. However, in the interests of transparency and fairness, before publishing I am reaching out to Rebel to see if she will engage in what I believe is a happy and unexpected news story for her, especially given the recent Pride celebrations. My deadline is Friday, 1pm Sydney-time. Regards, Andrew Hornery.”
