Looks like Rebel Wilson won her fight against Sacha Baron Cohen!
The Pitch Perfect star has been battling it out behind the scenes with the Borat alum for days now after calling him a “massive a**hole” who has allegedly been threatening her over the contents of her upcoming memoir, Rebel Rising. She’s been adamant that she wasn’t going to let anything stop her from sharing her truth in her book, set to release next Tuesday. And it looks like she stuck by her word. We don’t have to wait any longer to see just what Sacha has supposedly been fighting back against!
People snagged an excerpt of the new tell-all on Tuesday night. In it, Rebel opens up about an unsavory experience on set with her co-star. Though she notes that her intentions were “not about canceling anybody,” the Australian actress wanted to share her experience to help other women feel empowered to speak up in the future.
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According to Rebel, she first met the comedian at a dinner party in 2013. He later called her up and asked if she’d play his girlfriend in The Brothers Grimsby, a 2016 R-rated action-comedy he co-wrote, starred in, and produced. She agreed — but seemingly quickly regretted it once they started filming! The 44-year-old reflected:
“It felt like every time I’d speak to SBC, he’d mention that he wanted me to go naked in a future scene. I was like, ‘Ha, I don’t do nudity, Sacha.’”
Things took a turn for the worst when they were filming at a soccer stadium in Cape Town, the excerpt continued:
“SBC summons me via a production assistant saying that I’m needed to film an additional scene. ‘Okay, well, we’re gonna film this extra scene,’ SBC says. Then he pulls his pants down … SBC says very matter-of-factly: ‘Okay, now I want you to stick your finger up my ass.’ And I’m like, ‘What?? … No!!’”
The Senior Year lead furthered:
“I was now scared. I wanted to get out of there, so I finally compromised: I slapped him on the ass and improvised a few lines as the character.”
Damn!!
The 52-year-old English actor’s reps have already denied the claims, insisting:
“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 reps also supplied People with anonymous statements from nine individuals who were involved with the film, all supporting the comedian. Five of the witnesses said they saw the aforementioned Cape Town scene go down, and all of them disagreed with Wilson’s account. A producer argued:
“As per the script, which Rebel had read and approved in advance, her character was attempting to put a finger in Sacha’s character’s butt. At no point did Sacha actually ask her to put a finger in his butt. Throughout this entire period, she was treated with the utmost respect and empowerment and was welcomed as a collaborator in all creative areas.”
A writer-producer also chimed in:
“This was a scheduled, scripted scene.”
Even if it was a scripted scene, it doesn’t mean lines can’t be crossed. That’s why intimacy coordinators are so important. Just saying! But, for the record, Rebel’s sister Liberty and a friend told the outlet that the performer spoke to them shortly after the incident and recounted what she said happened. So, it’s really a “he said, she said” sitch!
Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like Rebel had much support at the time of the allegations. So, these reactions likely aren’t a surprise to her. She recalled in her book how she called her agent and spoke to a lawyer after this scene, saying:
“I was encouraged to ‘be professional and finish the film.’”
Oof. After that, “my way of dealing with it at that point was to try to laugh it off.” But it became harder to do that as she was soon asked to do reshoots, including a sex scene:
“I filmed the scene, after demanding rewrites. But I still had to simulate having sex with this guy. I still had to kiss him repeatedly.”
A few months later, it clicked:
“It really sank in that all this wasn’t something that could be laughed off. I relayed to the producers that I would not be doing any promotion for the film.”
The mother of one concluded:
“The movie bombed, which to me was karma enough. I’m not about canceling anybody and that’s not my motivation for sharing this story. I’m sharing my story now because the more women talk about things like this, hopefully the less it happens.”
FWIW, Rebel’s been sharing details about this incident for years now, and her story hasn’t changed in all that time. So, whatever Sacha’s camp has to say now, she obviously felt unheard and mistreated on that set, which isn’t okay! At the very least — no matter what the truth is — she should’ve had a safe place to turn for help when she needed it. So, it’s no wonder she’s speaking out in hopes of changing things in the future for others!
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