Rebel Wilson Spent ‘Bridesmaids’ Paycheck Partly on Premiere Dress

After revealing in her memoir Rebel Rising that she only received $3,500 for Bridesmaids, Rebel Wilson has now shared that she lost money on the film because, in addition to having to spend part of her pay to join the Screen Actors Guild, she had to buy her own outfit for the Bridesmaids premiere.

“I basically made no money,” she said. “I lost money because I had to pay to go to the premiere, like to buy my dress and everything.”

Wilson then noted that she had to wait a year after filming to receive her paycheck for the Paul Feig-helmed comedy, which made her financial situation more difficult. “That was a really skint year where I was living on $60 a week in L.A. once I’d paid my rent and my car hire,” she recalled. “I wasn’t partying or living this [movie star] life. It was basically having that focus, trying to write for myself, like going to auditions.”

While Bridesmaids didn’t amount to a sizable paycheck, the Australian actress acknowledged that the “big hit” led to her becoming a successful in America. “I booked six movies off the back of [Bridesmaids], one of which was Pitch Perfect, which was kind of my real golden ticket,” she said.

Wilson previously shared in her memoir that her Bridesmaids money went to SAG but wrote that it “didn’t matter” to her, as “the experience was everything.”