Highlights
- Rebel Wilson opens up about unpleasant experience with Sacha Baron Cohen during filming The Brothers Grimsby.
- Wilson recalls inappropriate comments and behavior from Baron Cohen leading to potential legal threat.
- Sacha Baron Cohen's representative denies Wilson's claims and threatens legal action, while Wilson vows to stand her ground.
No one could blame Rebel Wilson for keeping her baby private after she realized that the public would scrutinize every little thing that she did. Ever since she played Amy in Pitch Perfect, people have treated her harshly. For example, when the actress dropped pounds and seemed to be living a healthier lifestyle, people said Wilson was using Ozempic.
However, when the star wants to share something, she often posts on her Instagram account and is honest with her fanbase. In March 2024, Rebel Wilson said that Sacha Baron Cohen wanted to sue her. In this article, we'll take a look at what kind of relationship Wilson and Baron Cohen had before this incident. We'll also look at why he allegedly said he would pursue legal action.
What Was Rebel Wilson And Sacha Baron Cohen's Relationship Before Their Feud And Alleged Lawsuit
According to Variety, Rebel Wilson said that Sacha Baron Cohen harassed her on the set of the 2016 movie The Brothers Grimsby. While Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat was a profitable and star-making vehicle, some of Baron Cohen's other movies failed at the box office, and Grimsby didn't do very well. In an interview on the radio back in 2014, she said he harassed her on the final shooting day. Based on her comments, it seems that they had a terrible, negative, and unprofessional relationship.
It's unclear if the actors met before shooting the movie. Since they haven't said they did, it seems their time together on set was their only interaction.
Wilson said that Baron Cohen spoke inappropriately to her and kept talking about body parts. He allegedly said:
“Look, I’ll just pull down my pants, you just stick your finger up my butt, it’ll be a really funny bit.”
The actress wasn't comfortable with that, and she also didn't like that he kept telling her to take off her clothes during a scene. She said:
“Every day he’s like, ‘Just go naked, it will be funny. Remember in Borat when I did that naked scene? It was hilarious. On the last day, I thought I’d obviously won the argument and he got a body double to do the naked scene.”
What Are Some Of The Most Scandalous Characters Sacha Baron Cohen Has Played? (According to Vulture)
- Admiral General Aladeen (The Dictator)
- Brüno Gehard (Brüno, Da Ali G Show)
- Borat Sagdiyev (Borat!, Ali G Indahouse, Da Ali G Show)
Sacha Baron Cohen hasn't spoken about his relationship with Rebel Wilson or explained what it was like filming The Brothers Grimsby with her. This could be because, when Baron Cohen talked about his acting career in a rare interview with The Guardian, he explained that he likes to keep to himself. He said, "I'm a private person and to reconcile that with being famous is a hard thing."
When Wilson said that the Borat star threatened to sue her, that wasn't the first time that Baron Cohen allegedly was aggressive toward Wilson. While she revealed her difficult experience with Baron Cohen in March 2024, she mentioned an actor harassing her several years ago. According to her, his team didn't want her to talk about it. It sounds like Wilson has spent several years thinking about this disturbing interaction.
Who Else Starred In The Brothers Grimsby?
- Mark Strong
- Gabourey Sidibe
- Penélope Cruz
- Isla Fisher
In 2017, Cafe Mom reported that people speculated that Baron Cohen sexually harassed Wilson. The actress tweeted, "even I have a story to tell." Fans figured out that she shared the same story in her 2014 radio interview and in her 2017 tweets.
The actress shared more details on her X account about an actor telling her to "stick her finger" inside his butt. She explained that it was horrible because other men stood around and said they wanted to take iPhone videos of it.
She added:
"Later I was threatened by one of the star's representatives to be nice and support the star. I refused. The whole thing was disgusting."
Why Did Sacha Baron Cohen Allegedly Threaten To Sue Rebel Wilson?
According to Variety, Sacha Baron Cohen allegedly wanted to sue Rebel Wilson for writing about his on-set behavior in her memoir, Rebel Rising. On March 15, 2024, she wrote on Instagram:
“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.”
On March 25th, 2024, Wilson explained that Sacha Baron Cohen was the person she was referring to, and she wasn't afraid to say more.
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Wilson said, “Now the a**hole is trying to threaten me. He’s hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers. He’s trying to stop press coming out about my new book. But the book WILL come out and you will all know the truth.”
What Should Fans Know About Rebel Wilson's Memoir Rebel Rising?
- published by Simon and Schuster
- publication date: April 2nd, 2024
- about Wilson's acting career, relationships, weight, fertility
According to CNN, Sacha Baron Cohen's representative put out a statement about what Rebel Wilson said about him. The rep maintained that Wilson wasn't telling the truth.
They said, “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."
At the time of this writing, it's unclear if Sacha Barton Cohen actually will bring a lawsuit against Rebel Wilson. It doesn't seem likely that she will remove the chapter of her memoir that is about her experience with the actor.
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