Rebel Wilson's real reason for weight loss: 'I thought of a future child's needs'
Rebel Wilson has opened up about the real reason why she decided to embark on a weight loss journey.
The actor and comedian, 42, said she was driven to get healthy by the idea of being a mum in the future.
The star of new film Senior Year, had this realisation during a trip to her fertility doctor in 2019, who told her what she needed to change if she wanted a better chance of harvesting and freezing her eggs.
Wilson also has polycystic ovarian syndrome, which can affect fertility.
"He looked me up and down and said, 'You'd do much better if you were healthier'," Wilson told PEOPLE in a new interview.
At first she said she was "taken aback" and thought, "'Oh God, this guy's so rude'" – until she realised he might be right.
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"I was carrying around a lot of excess weight," she said. "It's almost like I didn't think of my own needs. I thought of a future child's needs that really inspired me to get healthier."
Wilson went through what she described as her "Year of Health" in 2020, compelled to alter her lifestyle when she turned 40.
"It wasn't a goal to get to a certain weight," she explained. "It was just being the healthiest version of myself."
As well as setting out to be healthier, Wilson also dedicated to "dealing with the emotional issues" that caused her to "emotionally eat", which was a real "process".
"You cry a lot, analyse things," she said. "I'd never done that before. It's really hard to know why you don't feel worthy when people look at my life on paper and say you've done all these amazing things. That's what I'm trying to overcome."
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Wilson knows she wants a child, and while she is setting out on that journey independently, she is open-minded about what the future holds.
"I would love to have a family," she expressed. "I'm just going for it by myself at the moment because of the biological clock.
"If I meet the right person, great, and then they can fit in with whatever happens. It's great that the technology exists. You have so many options with surrogacy and sperm donors.
"I only started thinking of fertility when I was 39 so you feel quite late but then there are women in their mid-40s who've been successful. Look at Janet Jackson, it's pretty inspiring."
She added, touchingly, "Any woman who's gone through it, I really relate to. It's been an emotional rollercoaster. I don't know how it's going to end. But I'm still young enough to try."
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The actor has also previously addressed the different treatment she's received depending on her appearance.
"I think that's been really interesting to me is how other people treat you. Sometimes being bigger, people didn't necessarily look twice at you," she previously said on Australia's The Morning Crew With Hughesy, Ed and Erin.
"And now that I'm in a good shape, like, people offer to carry my groceries to the car and hold doors open for you. I was like: 'Is this what other people experienced all the time?'"
Echoing this in a BBC interview, she said, "I know what it's like to be a woman who is essentially invisible to most people because of not being seen as traditionally beautiful or whatever.
"It's crazy to try to fit that. It's just better to be the healthiest version."
Watch: Rebel Wilson's ambition to become a mother sparked her weight loss
