Wilson tells of ‘Panda’ sacking
A TEARFUL Rebel Wilson has told how she was punted from blockbuster animated movies Kung Fu Panda 3 and Trolls in a scathing attack on Woman’s Day and its “toxic” journalism.
Wilson, 37, is suing Bauer Media — publisher of Woman’s Day and Australian Women’s Weekly — over eight articles published in 2015 she claims destroyed her career.
The articles were published in the lead-up to the release of her smash hit Pitch Perfect 2.
She said despite her starring role she had not secured a single film role since the publication of the articles.
“( Woman’s Day) gets away with so much, and not everyone has the strength to stand up for themselves, but I do,” she said.
“Other Australians who are success stories don’t deserve this kind of toxicity and this kind of malicious treatment.
“I felt like even though it is going to be harrowing to come into the court and to tell my story, to tell you intimate details about what happened to me and things about my family’s life, I felt like I have to — I’m the one to do it.”
Crying, Wilson said she hated having to detail her personal life in front of judge, jury and media.
“I wish right now I was doing my job and entertaining people. I felt like I was forced to defend myself,” she said.
“You’re not popular forever in Hollywood, you have a few years until you go out of fashion. They took those two years away from me.”
Wilson said she was axed from two films and became a Hollywood untouchable because of the articles at the centre of the libel action.
Taking the stand in the Supreme Court for a third day, she became emotional as she told of being sacked amid a media “firestorm”.
Wilson said she was first sacked from Kung Fu Panda 3, an animated film she had worked on for 18 months.
She was next sacked from the animated feature Trolls.
“I was absolutely shocked and blindsided,” she said.
Wilson said executives told her she was seen as “too divisive” for a family-friendly film.
She had appeared in one short cameo, and took parts in stage shows of Guys and Dolls and The Little Mermaid.
Wilson said she had started trying to develop her own films instead of waiting to be hired.
She says the articles at the centre of her case were “a deliberate malicious takedown of me”.
She will be cross-examined today when the trial, before Justice John Dixon, continues.