Rebel Wilson: Australian newspaper denies outing Bridesmaids star

Words: Emily Maskell

The Sydney Morning Herald has deleted a column about Rebel Wilson’s relationship with a woman after criticism was levied at the piece for outing the Pitch Perfect actress.

The day after Wilson, 42, posted on Instagram about her relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that they knew about the relationship before it went public in a gossip column that has since been deleted.

While the Hollywood star’s Instagram post was met with an outpouring of well wishes, widespread criticism was aimed at The Sydney Morning Herald for how it approached Wilson to comment on her sexuality, claiming Wilson had been outed as her decision to share her sexuality publicly in her own time had been compromised.

Reading the news about @RebelWilson and her horrible dealings with an Australian paper reminds me exactly of the situation with our Steo and the sun newspaper in the UK. How can this be possible today ? Rebel I hope you are ok and you have the strength and love to rise above. X

— Ronan Keating (@ronanofficial) June 11, 2022

In the original column, columnist Andrew Hornery claimed that Wilson’s “choice to ignore our discreet, genuine and honest queries was, in our view, underwhelming.”

Hornery since published a statement (13 June) that acknowledged they had “mishandled steps in our approach” by giving Wilson a two-day deadline to comment on her relationship status before he would publish the piece on her and Agruma.

“It is not the Herald’s business to ‘out’ people and that is not what we set out to do. But I understand why my email has been seen as a threat. The framing of it was a mistake,” Hornery continued.

He also said that “as a gay man, I’m well aware of how deeply discrimination hurts” and that he had no intention to “inflict that pain on someone else”.

According to Hornery, Wilson never responded to his original request for comment.

Wilson’s only reference to The Sydney Morning Herald controversy was in a tweet that shared “it was a very hard situation” but she was “trying to handle it with grace.”

Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace 💗

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) June 12, 2022

In an editor’s note published last week (12 June), The Sydney Morning Herald’s editor Bevan Shields denied outing Wilson in a defence of the report.

He states: “Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response.”

Shields’ piece prompted further frustration on social media for not taking accountability for the paper’s output.

Bevan
Your paper has no god-given right to know anything about the private life of anyone
I don’t claim to speak on behalf of Rebel Wilson
But for LGBTQIA+ people the consequences of what is nothing more than a hissy fit over who gets to print gossip can have devastating effects https://t.co/mzrpHTsoU5

— Magda Szubanski AO (@MagdaSzubanski) June 13, 2022

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