Rebel Wilson confesses she ‘could have died’ when she was just 18

Aussie comedian Rebel Wilson has shared insight into a ‘very, very bad’ period of her life that threatened everything.

Rebel Wilson has revealed that she once caught the deadly disease malaria and it sparked a lifelong fear for her.

When the star was 18-years-old, she spent some time in Africa and it led to one of the worst nights of her life, and one that could have been her last.

Rebel Wilson breaks down in tears in emotional Virgin Radio interview with Chris Evans – after war over new book. CREDIT Virgin Radio

“I have always had bugs-xiety [since] growing up in Australia, where we have a lot of bugs,” Wilson, 44, told Us Weekly.

“But also, one of the biggest turning points, when I was 18, I got malaria. I woke up one morning in an African bush and I had like 100 mosquito bites on my face.”

“I was in hospital for two weeks,” the author of the memoir Rebel Rising continued, revealing just how dangerously her health spiralled.

“I could have died from it, it was very, very bad.”

However, mosquitoes are not the only insects that the Hollywood star is not a big fan of being around.

“I also remember being in my mum's house, and they’d always have little flying gnats around the fruit bowl and I always hated it.

“I don’t want any little bugs crawling around at home, especially after having a baby,” referring to her younger daughter Royce Lillian, 19 months, that she shares with her fiancé Ramona Agruma.

Wilson revealed that she “could have died” after she contracted a tropical disease. Picture: Virgin Radio.

Meanwhile, Wilson recently released her book Rebel Rising, but she was forced to redact portions from the Australian version for legal reasons.

The chapter, titled “Sacha Baron Cohen and Other A**holes”, has been printed entirely as blacked out lines in Australia and New Zealand.

This means the Australian edition of Rebel Rising is officially the most redacted version of the book in the world. Differences in defamation law around the world have determined how much of the chapter can be included.

“If anything it’s watered down a bit,” she explained recently.

“Yeah, I mean so obviously behind the scenes that was something I was not happy about. I mean Australia is my home country, if anything I want my full story told and I will say … the book is not about that guy.

“I know there’s been a lot of media about it [Baron Cohen]. But it’s not about that guy and it’s just my full life story.”

Originally published as Rebel Wilson confesses she ‘could have died’ when she was just 18