Rebel with a pause to honour plus-size trailblazers

SHE made headlines and caused a stir when she claimed she was the ‘first plus-size woman’ to take a lead role in a romantic comedy.

But Australian actress Rebel Wilson has apologised for her controversial comments, after copping backlash from fans and after American actress Mo’Nique spoke out to correct her.

Taking to Twitter, Rebel, 38, responded: ‘I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me.’

‘In a couple of well-intentioned moments, hoping to lift my fellow plus-sized women up, I neglected to show the proper respect to those who climbed this mountain before me like Mo’Nique, Queen Latifah, Melissa McCarthy, Ricki Lake and likely many others,’ Rebel tweeted.

She also apologised for blocking fans on Twitter who corrected her original comments.

‘With the help of some very compassionate and well-thought out responses from others on social media, I now realise what I said was not only wrong but also incredibly hurtful.’

‘To be part of a problem I was hoping I was helping makes it that much more embarrassing and hard to acknowledge.’

She finished: ‘I blocked people on Twitter because I was hurting from the criticism, but those are the people I actually need to hear from more, not less. Again, I am deeply sorry.’

Her apology comes after she appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show on Thursday, and quipped: ‘I’m proud to be the first-ever plussized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy’.