Rebel Wilson has named Sacha Baron Cohen, who she worked with on the 2016 film The Brothers Grimsby (known as Grimsby in the UK), as the “massive asshole” she refers to in her forthcoming memoir, Rebel Rising.
The Australian actor also claims that the Borat star is attempting to block publication of the book.
Writing on Instagram today, Wilson said: “I will not be bullied or silenced with high priced lawyer or PR crisis managers. The ‘asshole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is Sacha Baron Cohen.”
In a statement shared with the Guardian, representatives for Baron Cohen strongly rejected the allegations of bad behaviour on set, saying:
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.
In previous Instagram posts, Wilson claimed that a “massive asshole” she once worked with had hired a crisis PR team and started sending her threats after she claimed they would be the subject of a chapter of her book. “He’s trying to stop press coming out about my new book,” she wrote. “But the book WILL come out and you will all know the truth.”
Ten days ago on Instagram, Wilson said: “When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, yeah, ‘I have a no asshole policy, means like, yeah, I don’t work with assholes.’ I was like, ‘Oh yeah. I mean, that sounds sensible or logical. But then it really sunk in because I worked with a massive asshole and yeah, now I definitely have a no assholes policy.”
Wilson and Baron Cohen starred together as husband and wife in Grimsby.
Grimsby, which co-starred Isla Fisher and Mark Strong, is widely considered the lowest moment in Baron Cohen’s screen career. Speaking to the Guardian in 2021, Baron Cohen said:
“Any flop is difficult. But in retrospect, the experience was fantastic. I was on the trajectory of a comedy movie star in Hollywood where you make a certain amount of movies that have to do well at the box office. The great thing about having a complete bomb was being liberated from that.”
This article was amended on 26 March 2024 to remove sections for editorial reasons.
