Rebel Wilson says Sacha Baron Cohen is ‘trying to threaten’ her over her new memoir Rebel Rising

Rebel Wilson has named Sacha Baron Cohen as the "a**hole" co-star mentioned in one chapter of her book Rebel Rising. Photo / AP

Rebel Wilson has branded Sacha Baron Cohen an “a**hole” and claimed he is “trying to threaten” her into silence.

The 44-year-old actress revealed last week an unnamed male celebrity was trying to stop the publication of her upcoming memoir Rebel Rising - which is due for release on April 2 - and she’s now identified the mystery person as her co-star in 2016 movie The Brothers Grimsby.

She wrote on Instagram on Sunday: “I will not be bullied or silenced by high-priced lawyers or PR crisis managers.

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“The ‘a**hole’ that I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen.”

Her message followed one from a few days before, in which she claimed: “I wrote about an a**hole in my book. Now, said a**hole is trying to threaten me. 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.”

Wilson previously spoke about facing harassment from a male co-star who then tried to “destroy” her career.

She told People magazine in 2022: “[Years ago, a male co-star], he called me into a room and pulled down his pants. It was awful and disgusting.

“And all the behaviour afterwards - this was all before #MeToo - where they kind of tried to destroy me and my career. If it had happened after #MeToo, then I could have just blasted them.”

However, Wilson - who trained as a lawyer before turning to acting - made sure to “document” the alleged incident at the time and insisted that while the behaviour was “gross”, other women have had it “worse”.

Rebel Wilson claims Sacha Baron Cohen is trying to prevent the publication of her new memoir. Photo / AP

She said: “Because I’m a lawyer, I documented it. I called my rep. I got certain things in writing about what happened. Amongst industry circles, I made sure people knew what happened.

“Why did I stay in that situation... with that awful guy? I should have left. It wasn’t worth it. But at the same time, I was like, ‘Oh well, do the right thing, be a professional and finish the movie.’ Now, I would never do that.

“I thought even complaining to my agency was a big step. And to complain to the studio. I found out I was like the fourth person to complain about the guy. Such gross behaviour, but a lot of women have had it way worse.”