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Earlier this year, I covered an interview Rebel Wilson had done with an Australian outlet – go here to read. The interview was enjoyable and I really do like Rebel and I’m happy that she’s carved out such a great career for herself. But in that Aussie piece, the journalist had done some cursory research into Rebel’s background and they discovered a pretty big discrepancy with her age. At the time, IMDB had her age at 28, but Australian records showed that she was actually 34 then (and 35 years old now). Since then, her IMDB has been changed, reflecting the fact that she was actually born in 1980.

Some Aussie sources have come out to claim Rebel was actually born in 1979 and she’s actually 36 years old right now. A former classmate went to the media and provided some old yearbook photos and documentation of a classmate – a classmate who looks nearly the same as Rebel Wilson – named Melanie Bownds. Bownds graduated high school in 1997. You can see the photos here.

So Rebel finally reacted to the speculation/Rebel-Proofing of her age. She wrote on Twitter:

OMG I’m actually a 100 year old mermaid formerly known as “CC Chalice” ….thanks shady Australian press for your tall poppy syndrome x

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) May 18, 2015

Okay but all jokes aside now…my real name is Fat Patricia x

— Rebel Wilson (@RebelWilson) May 18, 2015

I think it’s perfectly possible that there’s some “tall poppy syndrome” (where certain media outlets will attack a star on the rise because everyone must be “brought down” to a certain level) to this. I also think it’s more than possible that Rebel Wilson is actually a 36 year old woman who shaved seven or eight years off of her age so she could get more work. Shaving off a few years here and there is practically industry-standard at this point, but I am a little bit startled at just how many years Rebel shaved off. Jessica Chastain did something similar – back in 2012, press pieces kept describing her as a “30 years old” when she had actually shaved off five years (she was 35 years old, and now she’s 38).

Photos courtesy of WENN.
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