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Rebel Wilson: Australian newspaper denies outing Bridesmaids star

Wilson has tweeted that it's "a very hard situation" and that she's "trying to handle it with grace" in apparent reference to the incident.

By Emily Maskell

Words: Emily Maskell

The Sydney Morning Herald has deleted a column about Rebel Wilson’s relationship with a woman after criticism was levied at the piece for outing the Pitch Perfect actress.

The day after Wilson, 42, posted on Instagram about her relationship with fashion designer Ramona Agruma, The Sydney Morning Herald revealed that they knew about the relationship before it went public in a gossip column that has since been deleted.

While the Hollywood star’s Instagram post was met with an outpouring of well wishes, widespread criticism was aimed at The Sydney Morning Herald for how it approached Wilson to comment on her sexuality, claiming Wilson had been outed as her decision to share her sexuality publicly in her own time had been compromised.

In the original column, columnist Andrew Hornery claimed that Wilson’s “choice to ignore our discreet, genuine and honest queries was, in our view, underwhelming.”

Hornery since published a statement (13 June) that acknowledged they had “mishandled steps in our approach” by giving Wilson a two-day deadline to comment on her relationship status before he would publish the piece on her and Agruma.

“It is not the Herald’s business to ‘out’ people and that is not what we set out to do. But I understand why my email has been seen as a threat. The framing of it was a mistake,” Hornery continued.

He also said that “as a gay man, I’m well aware of how deeply discrimination hurts” and that he had no intention to “inflict that pain on someone else”.

According to Hornery, Wilson never responded to his original request for comment.

Wilson’s only reference to The Sydney Morning Herald controversy was in a tweet that shared “it was a very hard situation” but she was “trying to handle it with grace.”

In an editor’s note published last week (12 June), The Sydney Morning Herald’s editor Bevan Shields denied outing Wilson in a defence of the report.

He states: “Like other mastheads do every day, we simply asked questions and as standard practice included a deadline for a response.”

Shields’ piece prompted further frustration on social media for not taking accountability for the paper’s output.

The Attitude July/August issue is out now.