This was published 5 months ago
Sacha Baron Cohen denies Rebel Wilson’s claims about his behaviour on set
By Nell Geraets
Rebel Wilson has named British actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen as the star allegedly trying to stop her from publishing her upcoming memoir, Rebel Rising.
In various social media posts, Wilson, 44, previously referred to a “massive a--hole” she once worked with, adding that the star had allegedly hired a crisis PR team after learning she would dedicate a chapter of her memoir to exposing their behaviour. However, until now, she had not revealed the person’s identity.
Sacha Baron Cohen and Rebel Wilson have different versions of events.
“I will not be bullied or silenced with high-priced lawyers or PR crisis managers,” the Australian actress wrote on her Instagram stories on Monday. “The ‘a--hole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is Sacha Baron Cohen.”
The pair starred alongside each other in the adventure-comedy film The Brothers Grimsby in 2016 and Wilson has since made public comments about Cohen’s behaviour towards her on set, including that he allegedly insisted she perform a scene naked.
It is not known what Wilson has written about Baron Cohen in her book, but a spokesperson for Baron Cohen told CNN on Tuesday that Wilson’s claims were untrue.
“While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence, including contemporaneous documents, film footage, and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby,” the spokesperson said.
Wilson and Baron Cohen in the 2016 film The Brothers Grimsby.
Previously on social media, Wilson had written that Baron Cohen was “trying to stop press coming out about my new book”.
“But the book will come out and you will all know the truth,” Wilson wrote.
On March 16, Wilson posted a reel to Instagram promoting her memoir, in which she mentioned that chapter 23 explored Baron Cohen’s behaviour towards her, though at that point he had not yet been identified.
“When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, yeah, ‘I have a no a--hole policy, means like, yeah, I don’t work with a--holes.’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah. I mean, that sounds sensible or logical’. But then it really sunk in because I worked with a massive a--hole and yeah, now I definitely have a no a--holes policy,” she said.
The Australian actor’s upcoming memoir is titled Rebel Rising.Credit: AP
During a 2016 interview with UK magazine Marie Claire, she told the reporter Cohen had wanted her to perform a nude scene in The Brothers Grimsby; however, she declined.
“You want to know that the people [behind the camera] have a certain sensibility and decency. And a lot of times, in comedy, they’re not those people,” Wilson said at the time.
She spoke about the same incident during an appearance on the Kyle and Jackie O show in 2014, adding that she had threatened to call their shared agent about his “harassment” of her.
“Every day he’s like, ‘just go naked, it will be funny. Remember in Borat when I did that naked scene? It was hilarious,’” Wilson said on the show. “On the last day, I thought I’d obviously won the argument and he got a body double to do the naked scene.”
Wilson also claimed that Cohen asked her to “stick her finger up his butt” during the final scene of the film despite it not being in the script. “I’ll just pull down my pants, you just stick your finger up my butt, it’ll be a really funny bit,” Wilson claimed he said at the time.
Rebel Rising will be available from April 3.
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