Duncan James has said Rebel Wilson has to “come to terms” with her sexuality and has blasted the Australian newspaper which is said to be threatening to out her.
The 42-year-old wowed her fans last week when she announced that she is dating fashion and jewelery designer Ramona Agruma and explained that she has found her “Disney princess”.
But it soon emerged that the Pitch Perfect actress had apparently been “forced” to come out by Australian newspaper Sydney Morning Herald after they found out Rebel was in a same-sex relationship.
Duncan – who came out as bisexual in 2009 before later clarifying that he is gay – has exclusively opened up OK! about his own fears of being “outed” by the press.
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Speak with OK!Duncan said: “I think it’s amazing that Rebel came out, it made me really happy when I saw it.
“But it shouldn’t be a journalistic story unless someone really wants to publish it, it’s people’s privacy and a lot of people have to come to terms with their own sexuality and identity and that can take a long time.
“It’s not for a newspaper to print that, they’re trying to look at it as a story, but you’re actually affecting that person’s life. That person may not have told certain people or be uncomfortable, so it’s not for a newspaper to expose that.
“It used to be a lot in the past, but we’ve gotten to the point where it’s absolutely disgusting to hear a newspaper trying to do this to Rebel.”
However, the Australian newspaper’s editor has denied that the newspaper intended to out Rebel Wilson and said no decision had been made on whether to publish the report.
Speaking about his own earlier fears, Duncan continued: “I couldn’t enjoy it [being in Blue] the first time because I was withdrawn and afraid every day of being outed in a newspaper story.
“I enjoyed the first year when it was fresh, but when we got really famous we couldn’t even go to the stores without being followed by paparazzi, so that was awful. Everywhere we went people tried to get something from us.
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“There was a lot of shady shit going on so I was really paranoid because I didn’t want people to know I was gay, I was so scared. But this time I’m able to be myself and I’m so happy to do that because I don’t wake up scared every morning.”
Journalist Andrew Hornery claims he gave Rebel “two days to comment on her new relationship with another woman,” but then called it a “big mistake” when she “decided to look at the story.” The piece was later removed.
Responding to the outpouring of horror at Andrew’s actions, Rebel wrote on Twitter: “Thank you for your comments it has been a very difficult situation but you are trying to deal with it with grace,” followed by a red heart emoji.
Andrew later issued a statement saying: “I really regret that Rebel has found this difficult. That was never my intention. But I see she handled it all with extraordinary grace.
“As a gay man, I know how much discrimination hurts. The last thing I ever want to do is cause someone else that pain.”
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