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Rebel Wilson opens up about daughter’s Aussie upbringing while addressing book controversy

Rebel Wilson has opened up about her daughter while addressing the controversy surrounding her explosive memoir.

Rebel Wilson has proven she hasn’t forgotten her Aussie roots while giving a rare glimpse into how she’s raising her daughter in Hollywood.

In November 2022, Wilson and her fiancée Ramona Agruma welcomed a baby girl named Royce via a surrogate.

But despite her child being raised among the glitzy entertainment industry, the Pitch Perfect actress, 44, admits she is making sure her 18-month-old isn’t forgetting her Aussie roots.

“She is just like amazing. We had the best day yesterday with Royce, she now talks a lot … and she now says ‘I love you’,” Wilson told Sunrise.

“And she has an Australian accent, maybe because we’ve showed her a few episodes of Bluey even though we are living in America right now.

Rebel Wilson’s daughter Royce. Picture: Instagram
Rebel Wilson’s daughter Royce. Picture: Instagram
Wilson reveals her daughter watches Aussie cartoon show Bluey.
Wilson reveals her daughter watches Aussie cartoon show Bluey.

“But it’s changed my perspective and I’m really conscious of the messages I’m putting out and doing.”

Wilson also addressed the controversy surrounding the move to have parts of her controversial new memoir redacted in Australia.

“Personally, it wasn't my idea to censor it. I write in that chapter about the worst professional experience in my career which was with Sacha Baron Cohen on a movie,” she said.

“And I wanted it out, but the problem is it would’ve taken a few more months to get out legally and I just wanted to have the book out in Australia.

“It’s just because of the differences in defamation laws between different countries.

Rebel Wilson holds her new book.
Rebel Wilson holds her new book.

“I guess people can easily find out what we’ve got a chapter because there’s been a lot written about and spoken about it quite a lot.”

She revealed last week that she felt “shame” on a film set with Baron Cohen.

Discussing a redacted version of her book published in the UK on April 25 – which makes disputed claims about the British actor in a chapter entitled “Sacha Baron Cohen and Other A**holes” – she said, “I felt shame” over the incident and hoped the writing process would offer catharsis.

“It did happen 10 years ago,” she claimed on This Morning television in the UK on Thursday local time.

“If I was the woman I am now, I would have left that set. I wouldn’t have continued. I felt a bit of shame about staying on that movie set.”

Rebel Wilson on the set of This Morning in the UK promoting her memoir Rebel Rising. Picture: Instagram/itsdash
Rebel Wilson on the set of This Morning in the UK promoting her memoir Rebel Rising. Picture: Instagram/itsdash

Baron Cohen’s lawyers say parts of the book had to be removed because they contained falsehoods.

In the version of her autobiography, published in America but not the UK or Australia, Wilson refers to “the worst experience of my professional life.”

“An incident that left me feeling bullied, humiliated and compromised,” she said.

“It can’t be printed here due to the peculiarities of the law in England and Wales,” she says.

The rest of the page is redacted also removing shorter details later in the chapter.

When asked about the redactions by This Morning host Ben Shephard, she said: “That’s just the book publisher mitigating their risk.”

When told Baron Cohen refutes her allegations, she said: “It’s his right to say whatever he wants. I’m not about cancelling people.”

Sacha Baron Cohen an Rebel Wilson in a scene from the comedy Grimsby. Picture: Roadshow Pictures
Sacha Baron Cohen an Rebel Wilson in a scene from the comedy Grimsby. Picture: Roadshow Pictures

She said was telling her story “in hopes that this kind of stuff happens less in the industry”.

“I’ve learnt first hand it is very hard to speak up against somebody in the public eye,” she said.

Baron Cohen’s legal team said they insisted on the redacting Wilson’s memoir in the UK and hailed it as a “clear victory” insisting the claims were “defamatory”.

In a statement issued to Deadline.com his legal team wrote: “Printing falsehoods is against the law in the UK and Australia; this is not a ‘peculiarity’ as Ms Wilson said, but a legal principle that has existed for many hundreds of years.

“This is a clear victory for Sacha Baron Cohen and confirms what we said from the beginning – that this is demonstrably false.”

Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/entertainment/rebel-wilson-says-she-felt-shame-over-sacha-baron-cohen-experience/news-story/18af386f3943c930ddaa0b7cf3808ef4