Rebel Wilson thanks people for ‘acknowledging my experiences with Sacha Baron Cohen’ – amid legal battle over memoir branding him an ‘a**hole’

Rebel Wilson thanks her fans for the way they responded to her claims about actor Sacha Baron Cohen.

On Thursday, the 44-year-old Australian actress shared a photo of herself on stage for a conversation to promote her new memoir, Rebel Rising.

The book contains a chapter titled Sacha Baron Cohen And Other A**holes, in which the Pitch Perfect actress makes claims about the 52-year-old Borat star’s behavior on the set of their 2016 film Grimsby. Baron Cohen has strongly denied her allegations.

“I want to thank all the people who came forward and acknowledged my experiences with Sacha Baron Cohen,” Wilson wrote in large letters atop her photo.

Despite her gratitude for the public support, many readers will not see her claims in full, as the British version of the memoir was published with significant parts of the chapter blacked out, while the version of the book published in Australia and New Zealand was has been published. the entire chapter is omitted.

The censored British edition includes an accompanying note blaming the censorship for ‘the peculiarities of the law in England and Wales’.

The publisher, HarperCollins, confirmed to MailOnline: ‘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.’

However, the American version of Wilson’s memoirs was published without changes and appears to contain the entire original text.

Wilson added in her Instagram Stories post, “Thank you for sharing your own stories with me. I am so grateful and appreciate you so much.”

She finished with a pink heart emoji, which perfectly matched her hot pink velvet sport coat.

The stripper also wore a sheer black top underneath, along with black leather pants and black suede boots with a modest platform sole.

After Wilson’s allegations were detailed in the US version of Rebel Rising, Baron Cohen’s spokesperson said: ‘While we appreciate the importance of speaking out, these demonstrably false claims are directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence… Including documents from that time, 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…” before the note appears, which reads: “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 later in the chapter.

Following news that the chapter would be censored in Australia and New Zealand, a spokesperson for Baron Cohen claimed the decision was a ‘clear victory’ for him: ‘Harper Collins did not fact-check this chapter in the book before publication. “I have taken the sensible but belated step of expunging Wilson’s defamatory claims,” they said.

‘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 hundreds of years. This is a clear win for Sacha Baron Cohen.”

The Bridesmaids star has said her goal wasn’t to cancel Baron Cohen with her memories in the memoir, but to retell an experience that left her “feeling completely disrespected,” which led to me finding myself with even more treated more disrespectfully by eating in an extremely unhealthy way. .’

In the British book, Rebel says she ‘regrets the day’ she met the Ali G actor, who she describes as her former ‘idol’.

She describes how they first met at a dinner party hosted by Little Britain star Matt Lucas, followed by Baron Cohen offering her a role in The Brothers Grimsby.

Wilson played Dawn, the wife of Baron Cohen’s character Nobby, a football fan who gets sucked into the world of his secret agent brother.

Last month, she first named Baron Cohen as the celebrity responsible for making threats about the book, only to have his representatives hit back.

Wilson 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.’

As well as her shocking comments about the ‘disgusting’ sex scene in Grimsby, the Pitch Perfect star also slammed the film in an interview with The Australian Women’s Weekly at the time for her character Dawn wearing a burqa 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, “Do you think this is okay, to tell the joke we are telling?” And she said yes.’

Wilson added, “But she’s pretty liberal and lives in New York, so who knows? But it’s a joke and no offense is intended.’

Rebel’s post came just two days after she 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 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 on a UK tour later this month, with performances in Edinburgh, Manchester and London, including a chat with broadcaster Fearne Cotton at the London Palladium on April 29.

Representatives for Baron Cohen and publisher Harper Collins were contacted for comment.