Rebel Wilson<\/a>\u2019s doctors feared malaria had \u201cdemented [her] brain\u201d when she declared she wanted to be an actress.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
Rebel Wilson\u2019s doctors feared malaria demented her brain when she declared she wanted to be an actress<\/p>\n
The 45-year-old star contracted the disease after being bitten “100 times” while travelling in Mozambique, South East Africa, when she was 18 years old, and a vivid hallucination she experienced in hospital caused her to want to forge a new career path away from her planned field of law.<\/p>\n
She told The Guardian newspaper: “When I got to Mozambique, I got malaria really badly. We didn\u2019t have time to put up the mosquito nets and I woke up with my face covered in mosquito bites. <\/p>\n
“Two weeks later, I was in hospital because it was a really bad strain. I don\u2019t know whether it was the disease or the drugs, but I was hallucinating really badly, and I hallucinated that I won an Academy Award. <\/p>\n
“It was so visceral and real that I came out of hospital and said, ‘Hey everyone, I think I\u2019m going to become an actor now.’ <\/p>\n
\n“The South Africans were like, ‘Ah, no, Rebel. The malaria has demented your brain.’ <\/p>\n
\n“My parents were pushing me into law school, so I did law by day and acting by night.”<\/p>\n
\nIn 2021, the Pitch Perfect star won $250,000 for the School of St. Jude – an educational establishment which she sponsors that provides free education to children in Tanzania, East Africa – when she appeared on the US game show Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and she is very proud of how much of a difference her short appearance was able to make for so many people’s lives.<\/p>\n
\nShe said: “We had a great cause: the money sponsored a school in Tanzania and helped put 40 kids through college. Some have already graduated. <\/p>\n
\n“The medical students still send me video updates every six months. It\u2019s surreal that going on a gameshow for half an hour resulted in putting 40 kids through college in Africa.<\/p>\n
\n“My heart rate was pumping because I wanted to win as much money for charity as I could. You think, ‘Oh my God, please don\u2019t be an idiot.’ <\/p>\n
\n“I play a lot of dumb, stupid characters, but in real life, I do have two degrees \u2013 in theatre and performance studies, and law.”<\/p>\n
\nAs well as revealing she “could have died” from her malaria ordeal in Mozambique, Rebel – who has two-year-old daughter Royce with wife Ramona Agruma – said last year that she has always had “Bugs-xiety” and hates being around creepy crawlies.<\/p>\n
\nShe told UsWeekly magazine: “I have always had Bugs-xiety \u2026 [since] growing up in Australia, where we have a lot of bugs …<\/p>\n
\n“I also remember being in my mom\u2019s house, and they\u2019d always have little flying gnats around the fruit bowl and I always hated it. I don\u2019t want any little bugs crawling around at home, especially after having a baby.\u201d<\/p>\n
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