Sacha Baron Cohen has broken his silence after Rebel Wilson’s redacted memoir, Rebel Rising, was released in the UK.
The book was released in the US earlier this month, where in a chapter named Sacha Baron Cohen And Other Assholes, the actress accused her former co-star of “humiliating and degrading” her on the set of their 2016 film Grimsby – which he has adamantly denied.
However, the copies in the UK have blacked out certain parts of this chapter due to what the Austrailian branded “peculiarities” of English law.
Sacha’s legal team have made a statement calling this decision a win for the actor, after he repeatedly said the claims were false.
They said, according to Deadline: “HarperCollins did not fact check this chapter in the book prior to publication and took the sensible but terribly belated step of deleting Rebel Wilson’s defamatory claims once presented with evidence that they were false.”
“Printing falsehoods is against the law in the UK and Australia; this is not a ”peculiarity” as Ms Wilson said, but a legal principle that has existed for many hundreds of years.”
“This is a clear victory for Sacha Baron Cohen and confirms what we said from the beginning – that this is demonstrably false,” they added.
HarperCollins confirmed to the MailOnline that details in the chapter were removed.
They told the outlet: “The book contains some redactions in chapter 23 on pages 216, 217, 218 and 221, as well as an explanatory note at the beginning of the chapter.”
In the explosive memoir, the actress wrote about her experience working with Sacha on the 2016 film, in which she played the role of Dawn – who was his character Nobby’s wife.
Rebel claimed that the actor asked her to strip naked for a scene, despite her “no nudity” rule.
During an interview with The Sunday Times to promote the book, the 44-year-old claimed she felt “disrespected” on set, and said: “It’s one thing for someone who is fat to exploit their size for comedy, but it’s another for somebody else to humiliate you.”
The actress also said she felt like her costumes were chosen to “see all the cellulite on my thighs and a top to show the fattest part of my arm”, leaving her feeling “like I was something to be laughed at and degraded because of my size”.
“I’m sharing my story now because the more women talk about things like this, hopefully, the less it happens. And hopefully, fewer women have to work harder just to respect themselves,” she said.
In a statement released when the allegations first came to light, Sacha’s rep said: “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 edited version of the memoir refers to a moment that Rebel says was “the worst experience of my professional life. An incident that left me feeling bullied, humiliated and compromised…”
“It can’t be printed here due to the peculiarities of the law in England and Wales.”
The rest of the page is redacted with smaller details in the rest of the chapter blacked out.
In this version, Rebel says she “rues the day” she met her “idol” Sacha.
