Rebel Wilson’s journey to Hollywood and beyond
Wilson’s fans should enjoy this memoir in spite of the clangers and all the name-dropping, writes Emily Watkins
Rebel Rising by Rebel Wilson Harpercollins, £25
In her memoir Rebel Rising, the actor Rebel Wilson charts her meteoric rise from “bogan” beginnings in suburban Sydney to the height of Hollywood: “[my] four Golden Popcorn awards sit in a trophy case I have at my second home in Los Angeles. Because yes, I have two.”
Wilson shot to fame after a bit part in 2011’s Bridesmaids caught mainstream attention. But it was her role as Fat Amy in the Pitch Perfect films that solidified her place in Hollywood: she became known for delivering shocking lines with a poker face and combining feel-good storylines with expert physical comedy: she has since appeared in The Hustle, Jojo Rabbit and Cats.
Spanning difficult relationships with both her body and her father (“in a split second he goes from being our dad to becoming a red-faced angry giant”), ending with Wilson famous and happily coupled up following the birth of her daughter, the story at the heart of Rebel Rising is a triumphant one.
What’s less clear is whether its author’s unmistakable talent extends to writing. You might say, Rebel Wilson is a globally acclaimed actress and comedian – who cares if she can write?! And I would reply: the person reading her memoir, that’s who.
While no one picks up a celebrity memoir expecting to be transported by its exquisite prose, I’m afraid that the writing in Rebel Rising verges on distracting.
Many ideas feel circular and
repetitive in a way that a good proof-reader should surely have caught. Elsewhere, Wilson glances off weighty topics in a way that comes off as glib to the point of poor taste.
She recalls a trip to a village near Lake Malawi inhabited only by children – apparently the adults “all died of Aids,” but she “loved their initiative” in selling soapstone statues. Yikes.
Clangers like these are a shame, because Wilson’s life story is interesting and her voice largely compelling.
The section on Sacha Baron Cohen is totally
gripping
After a malaria-induced fever dream convinces her to pursue acting full time, she eventually heads to Hollywood where the larger body she has always battled gives her a USP. “On the one hand I’m a proud fat female. […] On the other hand, I’m ashamed of my eating behaviors,” she writes. Yet, change seems to carry its own risks: she wonders, “Maybe the only reason I was a successful movie star was because of my weight?”
It is at this point in the book – post childhood but pre A-list fame – that Rebel Rising is its most incisive. The section
on Sacha Baron Cohen, who she says behaved “like the fourth-grade bully” when they worked together on his
nd
2016 film Grimsby, is totally gripping despite the fact that in the UK edition, a description of “the worst experience of [Wilson’s] professional life” is redacted “due to peculiarities of the law in England and Wales”. Nonetheless, Wilson is clear about its impact: “[the experience] made me feel completely disrespected”. It is a thoroughly unpleasant impression of Baron Cohen, his alleged actions by this account as cruel and juvenile as his comedy. (He denies all Wilson’s claims.)
As the book approaches its conclusion, its pace picks up. Having fulfilled her career dreams, in 2018 Wilson resolves to focus on other on aspects of her life “inspired by reading Shonda Rhimes’s book Year of Yes.” What follows is a Year of Fun – “now that I had the means I was just going to celebrate myself ”, a Year of Health (“Out of all the things I’ve achieved in my life, losing weight seems to garner the most attention”) and her Year of Love, eventually meeting her now-fiancée Ramona Agruma.
If the first half of the book was repetitive, however, the second half is harder still to sit through. Endless name-dropping and insta-grid-worthy wisdom abound. Still, for fans of Wilson, Rebel Rising will be a treat, like sitting opposite her with a glass of wine.