LONDON – The British publisher of Australian actress Rebel Wilson’s memoir has redacted a portion of the book that details allegations of inappropriate behaviour by English comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
In the memoir, Rebel Rising, Wilson, known for her comic roles in the comedy movie Bridesmaids (2011) and Pitch Perfect (2012 to 2017) film series, details her struggles with weight loss, sexuality and money.
But what drew particular attention was a chapter detailing Wilson’s encounters with Baron Cohen on the set of the movie The Brothers Grimsby (2016), in which she describes being asked by the actor to appear nude in the film and perform sexual acts for a scene. A representative for Baron Cohen has denied her account.
The book was released by Simon & Schuster in the United States on April 2, and is set to be released in Britain on April 25 and in Australia in August.
But HarperCollins, Wilson’s publisher in Britain, has redacted passages from a page of the memoir, images released by Getty showed. A spokesperson for HarperCollins confirmed the redaction in a statement to British newspaper The Guardian.
“We are publishing every page but, for legal reasons, in the UK edition, we are redacting most of one page with some other small redactions and an explanatory note,” said the statement. “Those sections are a very small part of a much bigger story.”
Baron Cohen, 52, says Wilson’s account is false.
“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,” said Baron Cohen’s representative in a statement in April.
Representatives for Wilson, 44, and HarperCollins did not return a request for comment.
In March, British tabloid Daily Mail published footage of the scene that was not in the movie and shows Wilson acting out the sex scene with Baron Cohen in character.
In an interview with The New York Times in April, Wilson responded, saying: “I’m sure they’re never going to release the iPhone footage of him asking me to do it, and me saying, ‘No, why are you doing this? Why are you asking me to do this? Where’s the director?’ Of course, they are not going to release that footage.”
In the same interview, she said of Baron Cohen’s denial of her account: “This is not about cancelling someone. It’s part of my story, my memoir. And I’m allowed to write about what happened to me and how that made me feel.”
On April 24, a spokesperson for Baron Cohen said HarperCollins did not fact-check the chapter, but praised the publisher’s decision to redact what the spokesperson called defamatory claims.
“Printing falsehoods is against the law in the UK and Australia,” the statement said, adding that the move “confirms what we said from the beginning – that this is demonstrably false, in a shameful and failed effort to sell books”. NYTIMES
