Rebel Wilson contracted Malaria from '100 mosquito bites' on her face

9 days ago
Rebel Wilson

Rebel Wilson, 44, has opened up about a terrifying brush with death that occurred when she was a teen.

The Hollywood actress revealed the trauma happened when she contracted malaria at age 18 while travelling through Mozambique.

She said that she caught the life threatening disease after being bitten by 'hundreds' of mosquitos.

'When I was 18, I got malaria. I woke up one morning in an African bush and I had like 100 mosquito bites on my face,' the Bridesmaids star said in an interview with Us Weekly.

'I was in hospital for two weeks, she added. 'I could have died from it, it was very, very bad.'

Rebel Wilson , 44, has opened up about a terrifying brush with death that occurred to the Bridesmaids star while she was still a mere teen. (Rebel pictured with her fiancée Ramona Agruma)

Elsewhere in the chat, Rebel joked that the incident was part of why she suffers from 'bugs-xiety'.

'I have always had bugs-xiety … [since] growing up in Australia, where we have a lot of bugs,' she said.

Discussing the frightening experience back in 2019, Rebel said she failed to take precautions against contracting malaria - which is transmitted via mosquito bites.

The Hollywood fan favourite revealed the trauma occurred when she contracted malaria after being bitten by mosquitos at age 18 while travelling through Mozambique. Pictured: Rebel at he Australian Theatre for Young People in 2002

Rebel told Us Weekly that after being bitten by 100s of mosquitos on the face she was hospitalised for two weeks and that she 'could have died'.

She was working with a charity in Africa at the time when caught malaria which can present symptoms such as high fever, and seizures.

'They tried to give me pills but I heard they can cause mental problems - so I ended up being the stupid person who got it (malaria),' she said in an episode of the Aussies in Hollywood podcast.

It comes after Rebel revealed she is yet to meet fiancée Ramona Agruma's parents for a heartbreaking reason.

During an interview on the Today show in the US, Rebel, who started dating Ramona in June 2022 before the pair got engaged months later, explained her partner comes from a conservative background.

'Ramona was born in Latvia, and it's not as LGBTQ+-friendly as other countries are,' she said.

Rebel recently revealed she is yet to meet fiancée Ramona Agruma's parents. The lovebirds are pictured with their child Royce Lillian Elizabeth Wilson

'There are still parts of the world that aren't as accepting.'

She added that the couple will be soon heading to Europe for a holiday and she hopes this will allow her to finally meet her future in-laws and introduce their 19-month-old daughter Royce to them in person.

'I'm really excited to meet them because I know they are very smart. Ramona's mother is a doctor. Roycie is the real icebreaker. They've been FaceTiming with her.'

Earlier this month, Rebel admitted while she feels 'lucky' her family were accepting of her relationship, her partner hasn't had such a comfortable ride.

Rebel and Romona welcomed Royce via surrogate in 2022.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's 'Desert Island Discs' program, Rebel said: 'I'm lucky in my case, it went very, very well... My grandparents, who are in their 90s, so cool with it.'

'Ramona's family, not as much. Her mum has luckily come around now, her father still doesn't talk to her, but we're hoping that will change,' she added.

The actress had been in the process of using a surrogate to have a child when she first met Ramona, and was thankful her partner was quickly accepting of her family plans.

'I'd already been planning to use a surrogate to have a child and I'd done several rounds of IVF and I had one embryo transfer, which sadly didn't work.'

'Almost right at meeting Ramona, I was planning on the second embryo transfer and I was like, 'Babe I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm going to have a child kind of around November',' she said.

'Ramona just looked at me and said, 'Well, I love you and if you have a child, I'm going to love your child exactly the same way.''

The SAG Award nominee and her fiancée Ramona Agruma welcomed Royce Lillian Elizabeth Wilson via surrogate in 2022.

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