Rebel Wilson steps out in glamorous red dress as she’s seen for the first time since Sacha Baron Cohen broke his silence on her redacted memoir’s UK release – amid legal battle over ‘a**hole’ chapter
Rebel Wilson looked sensational as she headed to her show at the Manchester Opera House on Friday, just days after her former co-star Sacha Baron Cohen broke his silence about her claims in her memoir about his behaviour.
The actress, 44, was seen in a glamorous red dress with an asymmetrical neckline as she left her hotel in the city ahead of fronting her show An Evening with Rebel Wilson, in which she would talk about her life and her journey to success in Hollywood. .
Australian star Rebel was seen beaming as she left the building, walking with her hand on her hip as she completed her look by opting for a pair of black heels.
The screen siren appeared in good spirits and happily posed for photos with fans ahead of her show.
It comes after Sacha broke his silence after Rebel’s edited memoir was released in Britain on Thursday.
Rebel Wilson looked sensational as she headed to her show at the Manchester Opera House on Friday
The actress, 44, was seen in a glamorous red dress with an asymmetrical neckline as she left her hotel in the city before fronting her show An Evening with Rebel Wilson.
On her show in Manchester she would talk about her life and her journey to success in Hollywood
The book was published in the US earlier this month and includes a chapter entitled Sacha Baron Cohen And Other A**holes, in which Rebel makes claims about Sacha’s behavior during the filming of the 2016 film Grimsby, which he has strongly denied.
However, on the British copies the wording is roughly blacked out due to what Rebel calls ‘quirks’ of English law.
In response to the book’s British publication, Baron Cohen’s legal team has seen this decision by publisher HarperCollins as vindication, following the creator’s strong denial of Wilson’s claims.
“HarperCollins did not fact-check this chapter in the book prior to publication and took the sensible but terribly belated step of removing Rebel Wilson’s defamatory claims after they were presented with evidence that they were false,” said the statement, presented in Deadline.
‘Printing untruths is against the law in Great Britain and Australia; this is not a “quirk” 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 have said from the beginning: that this is demonstrably false.”
After the revised edition was finally published, publisher HarperCollins confirmed to MailOnline that details had been removed.
They told MailOnline: ‘The book contains some redactions in Chapter 23 on pages 216, 217, 218 and 221, as well as an explanatory note at the start of the chapter.’
It comes after Sacha broke his silence after Rebel’s edited memoir was released in Britain on Thursday
Australian star Rebel was seen beaming as she left the building, completing her look by opting for a pair of black heels
The screen siren appeared in good spirits and happily posed for photos with fans ahead of her show
Rebel was seen smiling as she posed with a fan who had waited outside her hotel to meet the star
After the allegations were detailed in the US version of the book, Sacha’s spokesperson 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 British version contains a reference to ‘the worst experience of my professional life’. An incident that left me feeling bullied, humiliated and compromised…
‘It cannot be printed here due to the peculiarities of the law in England and Wales.’
The rest of the page has been redacted, with black lines also removing shorter details elsewhere in the chapter.
The Pitch Perfect and Bridesmaids star said her goal wasn’t to cancel Sacha with her memories in the memoir, but to retell an experience that left her “feeling completely disrespected,” which led to me finding myself with treated even more disrespectfully by eating in an extremely unhealthy dining room. way’.
In the British book, Rebel says she ‘regrets the day’ she met Sacha, who she describes as her ‘idol’.
She describes how they first met at a dinner party hosted by Little Britain star Matt Lucas, and a year later he offered her a role in Grimsby, which was released in North America as The Brothers Grimsby.
The book Rebel Rising, which has already been published in the US, contains a chapter entitled Sacha Baron Cohen and Other A**holes, but there will be black lines running through certain parts.
In response to the book’s UK release, Baron Cohen’s legal team has taken this decision by publisher HarperCollins as vindication, following the creator’s strong denial of Wilson’s claims.
Rebel called her sex scene with Sacha in the film Grimsby ‘the most disgusting thing ever’, nine years before calling the star an ‘a**hole’ in her new memoir (pictured during the filming of Grimsby in 2014)
She played Dawn, the wife of Sacha’s character Nobby, a football fan who gets sucked into the world of his secret agent brother.
Last month, she first named Sacha as the celebrity responsible for making threats about the book, only for his representatives to hit back.
Rebel took to Instagram to confirm the identity, writing: “I will not be silenced by expensive lawyers or PR crisis managers. The *** I talk about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen.’
In the wake of her statement, Sacha spoke out to TMZ through representatives, saying, “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence…
‘[With] contemporaneous documents, film footage and eyewitness accounts from those present before, during and after the production of The Brothers Grimsby.’
As well as her shocking comments about the ‘disgusting’ sex scene in Grimsby, in an interview with The Australian Women’s Weekly at the time, the Pitch Perfect star also lambasted her burqa-wearing character Dawn in one scene.
She emphasized at the time that the scenes were all in the name of comedy: “Clearly I mean no offense to Muslims. I asked my Muslim friend, “Are you okay with telling the joke we’re telling?” And she said yes.
She added, “But she’s pretty liberal and lives in New York, so who knows? But it’s a joke and no offense intended.”
Rebel’s post came just two days after the Pitch Perfect star claimed a celebrity she once worked with threatened her over the publication of the memoir.
She said: ‘I wrote about a hole in my book. Now, said a***** is trying to threaten me. He has hired a PR crisis manager and lawyers. He’s trying to prevent the press from reporting my book. But the book WILL come out and you will all know it.”
In the wake of her claims, Sacha spoke to TMZ through representatives, saying, “While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence.”
In an Instagram video shared on March 15, Wilson revealed that she dedicated a chapter in her book to the “huge a**hole” she worked with in Hollywood.
Rebel will discuss her book during a UK tour later this month, with performances in Edinburgh, Manchester and London.
She will speak with comedian and Loose Women star Judi Love in Edinburgh and Manchester on April 24 and 26 respectively, and with broadcaster Fearne Cotton at the London Palladium on April 29.
Representatives from Sacha and publisher Harper Collins were contacted for comment.