Australian actress Rebel Wilson has admitted her team was against her losing weight when she started her health and fitness journey because she was “earning millions of dollars being the funny fat girl”.

Wilson, 41, set herself a health challenge in 2020 and shared the transformation online, with numerous revealing posts about her past relationship with food and mental health.

But in a candid interview with the BBC, the Pitch Perfect star – who is in Australia for Wednesday night’s Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts awards in Sydney – explained she did not have support from her crew in her journey.

“I got a lot of push back from my team actually here in Hollywood when I said, ‘OK, I’m going to do this year of health and I feel like I’m really going to physically transform and change my life,'” Wilson said in the interview released on Tuesday night.

“And they were like, ‘Why? Why would you want to do that? Because I was earning millions of dollars being the funny fat girl and being that person.”

Wilson said, while “even though I was confident being bigger” than other actresses, she knew deep down some of her emotional eating behaviours were unhealthy.

“Like I did not need a tub of ice-cream every night. That was me kind of numbing emotions using food, which wasn’t the healthiest thing,” she said.

“I think it was dealing with not being a natural performer, and having to perform every day. And that pressure and internal stress to be able to perform like that.”

During her year of health, the actress lost 30 kilograms and reached her goal weight.

The Bridesmaids actress shared the significant media attention and public opinion her weight loss journey brought, and how she was made to feel “invisible” within traditional beauty moulds before her weight loss.

“Is that what a woman has to do in the world, lose weight to get attention?” she said.

“I know what it’s like to be a woman who is essentially invisible to most people because of not being seen as traditionally beautiful or whatever.

“It’s crazy to try to fit that. It’s just better to be the healthiest version.”

Wilson also opened up on her struggle with fertility, explaining the reason she shared her personal experience online was to help others.