Rebel Wilson shared her thoughts and feelings on whether straight actors can only play straight characters or if gay characters should only be played by gay actors in a new interview with the BBC’s Desert Island Discs. The actress, 44, was asked about the differences in the types of jokes that women can make versus the jokes that men can make, when she shared her outlook on people playing different sexualities.
Rebel admitted that she didn’t agree with the idea that the only person who could play a gay or straight character is someone who also identifies with that sexuality. “I think that’s hard,” she admitted, via Deadline. “It’s going into this territory of like saying, ‘Well, only straight actors can play straight roles, and gay actors can play gay roles,’ which I think is total nonsense.”
Rebel continued and said that everyone should play whichever characters they desire, but she admitted that sometimes part of performing comedy is about pushing boundaries. “I think you should be able to play any role that you want. But I always think, in comedy, your job is to always flirt with that line of what’s acceptable. Sometimes you do step over it but, at the end of the day, you are trying to entertain people,” she said.
Rebel came out as a member of the LGBTQ+ community back in June 2022, when she publicly revealed her relationship with Ramona Agruma. The pair have since gotten engaged, and they have a daughter together.
A few months after going public with her romance with Ramona, Rebel revealed that she decided to try dating people of the same sex after kissing another woman in a recent movie. “If I hadn’t had the experience with Charlotte or the experience with the other woman, I don’t know if I would have ever met [Ramona],” she told The Hollywood Reporter at the time. “Having those experiences opened my heart up to it as a possibility. I’m grateful for those two experiences. It changed my love life completely.”