Rebel Wilson Calls Out “A—hole” Sacha Baron Cohen for Legal Threats Over New Book

Pitch Perfect star Rebel Wilson is naming names. Last week, Wilson took to social media to reveal that an entire chapter of her forthcoming book, Rebel Rising, is dedicated to a “massive a—hole” that she had previously worked with in Hollywood, though at the time she didn’t reveal the person’s name or any identifying details. Now, however, she’s being a bit more direct. On Sunday, Wilson shared in an Instagram Story that the actor in question is her The Brothers Grimsby costar Sacha Baron Cohen.

“I will not be bullied or silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers. The ‘a—hole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen,” Wilson wrote.

In another, now deleted story, she also noted that Baron Cohen was trying to stop the book from coming out.

“He’s hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers. He is trying to stop press coming out about my book,” the post said (via The Hollywood Reporter). “But the book WILL come out, and you will all know the truth.”

For his part, Baron Cohen refutes Wilson’s claims. A spokesman for the actor calls Wilson’s claims “demonstrably false”.

“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.”

While Baron Cohen is refuting Wilson’s claims, Wilson has previously suggested that there were disagreements between the two actors on the set of 2016’s The Brothers Grimsby. The film starred Baron Cohen as an English football hooligan who becomes a spy with Wilson playing the character’s girlfriend. The film also starred Mark Strong, Penelope Cruz, and Isla Fisher. During an appearance on the Kyle and Jackie O radio show talking about working on the film, Wilson revealed that Baron Cohen repeatedly tried to pressure her into changing aspects of scenes.

“Every single day he’s like, ‘Rebel, can you just go naked in this scene?’ And I’m like, ‘No!’ Sacha and I have the same agent in America and I’m like, ‘Sacha, I’m going to call our agent Sharon and tell her how much you are harassing me.’”

She continued, “Every day he’s just 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 the naked scene.”

She went on to reveal that Baron Cohen allegedly asked her to do something uncomfortable that wasn’t in the script because he thought it was funny. Wilson objected and they compromised with her character slapping Baron Cohen’s character on the butt for the scene instead.

What is Rebel Rising About?

Announced last fall, Rebel Rising is a memoir from Wilson that will come out globally in hardcover, eBook, and audio on April 2nd with Wilson narrating the audiobook. Rebel Rising follows the star’s “unconventional journey” to success after her upbringing in Australia. Here’s how the book’s publisher Simon and Schuster describes the book: “For decades, Rebel Wilson had single-mindedly focused on her career, making a name for herself through her iconic roles in Pitch Perfect, Bridesmaids, and Isn’t It Romantic. Now, she’s ready to chronicle the emotional and physical lessons she learned, as well as her most embarrassing experiences. A malaria-induced hallucination? An all-style martial arts fighting tournament? Junior handling at dog shows? And this was all BEFORE she moved to Hollywood!

Rebel Rising follows Rebel Wilson’s incredible journey of “making it,” constantly questioning, “Am I good enough? Will I ever find love? Will I ever change and become healthy?” Rebel writes for the first time about the most personal and important moments in her life—from fertility issues, weight gain and loss, sexuality, overcoming shyness, rejections, and, well…okay there’s at least one story thrown in about Brad Pitt! It’s all here. This memoir shows us how to love ourselves while making us laugh uncontrollably.”