Rebel Wilson said she was the 'first ever plus-sized' woman to star in a romcom and people were not happy

The Australian comedian and actor Rebel Wilson has caused controversy online after making a bold claim about her new movie.

The 38-year-old will star in the forthcoming film Isn't It Romantic which is due to be released in February and also stars Liam Hemsworth.

In an appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Showto promote the movie she spoke about how proud she was of the movie, which breaks away from typical Hollywood tropes.

She said:

I had such a ball filming that. I’m proud to be the first-ever plus-sized girl to be the star of a romantic comedy.

The quote was then reported by Huffington Postwith the publication also sharing the quote in a tweet.

However, this created a backlash against Wilson with many pointing out that other plus size women, such as Queen Latifah and Mo'Nique have previously played leads in romantic comedies.

Twitter user Halfapintdoll was the first to point this out.

This prompted a response from Wilson but rather than accept that she was wrong, Wilson went on the defensive.

Unfortunately for Wilson, she wasn't what Twitter wanted to hear and the website was soon inundated with people sharing examples of numerous movies where the lead woman was considered to be plus size.

Wilson also responded to unfounded claims that the movie had plagiarised a short film made last year.

HT MovieWeb