Rebel Wilson Says Sacha Baron Cohen Tried to Stop Her From Writing About Him

During his time as a major star, Sacha Baron Cohen has made it part of his brand to ruffle feathers. Of course, there's a difference between innocent jokes and something far more serious.

Recently, Rebel Wilson suggested that the Borat actor wasn't exactly the kindest colleague. Rebel says that she planned to devote an entire chapter in her memoir to his behavior, and said that he had lawyered up to try to stop her from doing so. Here's what we know about their feud, and what it might trace back to.

The spat between the actors started when Rebel posted on her Instagram that she planned to dedicate an entire chapter in her memoir to an unnamed person she collaborated with in the past. She didn't say who it was, or what project they had worked on together.

“When I first came to Hollywood, people were like, yeah, ‘I have a no-a--hole policy, [it] means like, yeah, I don’t work with a--holes,'" she wrote.

"I was like, ‘Oh yeah. I mean, that sounds sensible or logical,'” her March 15, 2024, video said. "But then it really sunk in [what they, the older people in the industry, meant] because I worked with a massive a--hole and yeah, now I definitely have a no-a--holes policy.”

She added that “the chapter on said a--hole is Chapter 23. That guy was a massive a--hole.”

Now, a few days later, Rebel is offering more detail on who that person was.

In late March, Rebel provided an update, saying that the star in question had hired a team to try to stop her from writing about him.

“I wrote about an a--hole in my book. Now, said a--hole is trying to threaten me,” Rebel explained in a now-deleted Instagram Story. “He’s hired a crisis PR manager and lawyers. He is trying to stop press coming out about my book. But the book WILL come out, and you will all know the truth.”

Rebel further elaborated, writing: “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."

Rebel and Sacha worked together on the 2016 comedy The Brothers Grimsby, and Rebel played his character's girlfriend in the film. Rebel has hinted at friction with Sacha in the past over his insistence that she do a nude scene in the film.

“Sacha is so outrageous,” she said during an interview at the time. “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 explained. It isn't clear if that nudity is the reason for these allegations, or if there were other issues on set as well. Rebel's book, Rebel Rising, is set to be released on April 2, 2024.