Before Rebel Wilson found love with fiancée Ramona Agruma, the actress was actively searching for The One.
“I [did] this experiment called ‘Year of Love’ where I just went out with anyone who asked me out, and I went out with about 50 different people,” the Pitch Perfect actress, 42, confessed during the Wednesday, March 29, episode of Betches’ “U Up?” podcast, describing her dating life after a failed stint on dating app Raya. “The twist of that was that I met a woman and had, like, feelings for her, which totally came as a blindside. It wasn’t what I was expecting in that year.”
She added: “I never thought I was 100 percent straight, but I was only ever dating men before that. … It was just, like, [we met] as friends but then realizing, ‘Hang on, I have feelings for this person.’ And then, having this awful thing of having to say it because no one in my friendship circle would have thought I would have been attracted to a woman.”
Wilson — who proposed to Agruma, 37, earlier this year — revealed in June 2022 that she had found her “Disney princess” in the fashion designer. While the twosome never specified when their relationship began, it marked the Hustle star’s first public romance with a woman. (Wilson previously dated Jacob Busch from 2020 to 2021.)
“It was hard because I come from a very conservative background,” Wilson told podcast cohosts Jared Freid and Jordana Abraham of coming out. “I guess the 20-year-olds have no issue talking about sexuality or they are all over the spectrum and it’s cool, but where I grew up in Australia is very conservative. I had to tell people — and the person — that I was attracted to them, and I think I said the words, ‘I don’t want to offend you, but are you interested in women?’ I’ve never had a conversation like that [before] because I was dating dudes and never had to talk about sexuality.”
The Fluid founder, who welcomed her first child via surrogate in November 2022, revealed that one of her early dates in her “Year of Love” was with an unidentified woman whose Hollywood career “was very important to them.” Wilson declined to name the person “out of respect” since they are also in “the public eye.”
“She was like, ‘I have feelings for you as well,’ and it didn’t end up going anywhere, really, but that whole experience of opening my heart up for a same-sex relationship has been really [eye-opening],” Wilson said on Wednesday. “Then I met Ramona, [who was] the next woman that I felt that way [about]. If I never had that dalliance, I don’t think I ever would have been open to meeting Ramona.”
The Bridesmaids actress popped the question to the Lemon Ve Limon founder last month in front of Sleeping Beauty’s Castle at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, where she presented Agruma with a solitare diamond ring from Tiffany’s.
“Rebel has everything she wants. She has love, she’s a mother, she’s wildly happy,” a source exclusively told Us Weekly in February of the actress’ engagement. “They clicked right away and have been inseparable ever since. They are kind to each other and are very supportive.”
