SMH defends move to ‘out’ actor Rebel Wilson

The editor of The Sydney Morning Herald has defended the newspaper’s decision to run a controversial gossip item about actor Rebel Wilson’s love life.

The editor of The Sydney Morning Herald has defended the newspaper’s decision to run a controversial gossip item about actor Rebel Wilson’s love life.

In the Saturday edition of the SMH, journalist Andrew Hornery wrote a piece in his Private Sydney gossip column under the headline “Rebel starts spreading the news”, in which he bemoaned the fact that despite making “discreet, genuine and honest queries” to Wilson about her relationship with a female designer, the actor posted about her new love interest on Instagram before the newspaper had a chance to publish the story.

Hornery wrote that the SMH’s decision to “give (Wilson) two days to comment on her new relationship with another woman” had backfired.

“Big mistake. Wilson opted to gazump the story,” Hornery wrote.

In explaining the public interest in seeking to disclose Wilson’s same-sex relationship before she had decided to do so herself, Hornery wrote: “Of course, who anyone dates is their business, but Wilson happily fed such prurient interest when she had a hunky boyfriend.

“This is understood to be Wilson’s first same-sex relationship, at age 42 and in an era when same-sex marriage is legal in many parts of the world and – thanks to decades of battling for equality – sexual orientation is no longer something to be hidden, even in Hollywood.

Bevan Shields. Picture: Alex Ellinghausen

“Up to now, Wilson had identified publicly as a heterosexual woman. It is unlikely she would have experienced the sort of discrimination let alone homophobia – subconscious or overt – that sadly still affects so many gay, lesbian and non-hetero people.”

The article provoked a torrent of criticism on social media channels, with the majority taking aim at the news outlet’s apparent intent to “out” Wilson.

Scores of posts questioned the newspaper’s editorial judgment. “This is beyond disgusting behaviour by @smh,” one read.

On Sunday night, Wilson took to Twitter to thank her fans for their online support. “Thanks for your comments, it was a very hard situation but trying to handle it with grace,” she wrote.

SMH editor Bevan Shields defended the article.

“To say that the Herald ‘outed’ Rebel Wilson is wrong,” Shields told The Australian in a statement.

“Our weekly Private Sydney celebrity column asked Wilson if she wished to comment about her new partner. We would have asked the same questions had Wilson’s new partner been a man.

“Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked the questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response. We made no decision about whether or what to publish, and our decision about what to do would have been informed by any response Wilson supplied.

“Wilson made the decision to publicly disclose her new partner – who had been a feature of her social media accounts for months. We wish them both well.”

In response to Shields’ editor’s note, one commenter wrote: “No Bevan, you didn’t out her. You just threatened to.”

The Age also ran a shorter version of the same article in its Saturday edition.