Rebel Wilson Explains Why She Went from Law School Graduate to Becoming an Actress: 'I Hallucinated'

"People thought I was demented when I got out of the hospital," Rebel Wilson said in an interview on Today

Rebel Wilson. Photo: Getty

Rebel Wilson is one to follow signs from the universe!

While stopping by Today on Thursday, the Pitch Perfect actress, 42, shared what made her pivot from law school graduate to Hollywood star.

"I took like a gap year between high school and college and I went to Africa for the year," she said, "got malaria really, really badly and I hallucinated that I was an actress and that I was really good."

After her recovery, Wilson returned home and was confident acting was her new path. "I come back to Australia and said, 'Guys I'll go to law school as well, but I think I've got to pursue acting too because I had the vision.'"

Given Wilson's lack of interest in acting beforehand, and her "studious" past, friends and family agreed the sudden change was "weird" to say the least. "People thought I was demented when I got out of the hospital," Wilson joked.

Even though no one understood her new calling, the Bridesmaids actress kept saying "I saw it — I think I'm gonna be good." Wilson then graduated law school and went on to pursue acting.

Also in the interview, the actress talked about her recent weight loss journey and newfound dedication to her health. "In 2020, when everything kind of shut down in the pandemic, I really focused on my health and I think I lost like 80 pounds and have managed to keep it off," Wilson said.

"I'm not perfect," she admitted, "I was eating ice cream in the bath last night."

When it comes to why this health journey worked, the actress says what made of the difference was working on her mental health. "I struggle with emotional eating and so I just worked really hard on that, I never worked on the mental side of it before, I've done diets or exercising and stuff but I had never worked on the mental side so I did and that was the trick."

As for the actress' new acting projects, Wilson has "one of those feel-good comedies" coming up this month with Netflix's high school comedy Senior Year.

Boris Martin/NETFLIX

In the movie, the comedian plays a woman who wakes up from a 20-year-long coma that she fell into during a cheerleading accident her senior year. Poised to be crowned prom queen, she didn't get to finish out her high school experience and get her moment — so she decides to head back to class, even if times have changed without her.

"Everybody else has gotten to go on and live their lives, and what? I'm supposed to just jump forward? I mean, I just found out there are eight more Fast & Furious movies!" Wilson's character says in the trailer. "I wanna go back to school, finish my senior year. ... High school was just like yesterday for me, it won't be weird."

Wilson rocks her stunted early-2000s wardrobe to school as she gets to know modern teen life while learning newfound confidence along the way.

"I'm gonna do something that I wish I had the confidence to do 20 years ago: be my real self," she says.

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On Instagram, Wilson shared the trailer and wrote, "Get ready for high school…AGAIN! So excited to share the trailer for my new film #SeniorYear coming to Netflix on May 13th!"

Directed by Alex Hardcastle, the film also stars Alicia Silverstone, Justin Hartley, Angourie Rice, Sam Richardson, Zoë Chao, Mary Holland and Chris Parnell.

Senior Year debuts May 13 on Netflix.