Rebel Wilson accuses Sacha Baron Cohen of ‘humiliating’ her and made her feel ‘disrespected on set’ of 2016 film Grimsby – as she brands working with him ‘the worst professional experience of my career’

Rebel Wilson has accused Sacha Baron Cohen of ‘humiliating’ her and making her feel ‘disrespected on set’ of the 2016 film Grimsby – as she brands working with him ‘the worst professional experience of my career’.

The Australian actress, 44, has made a series of explosive claims about her experience with the British actor and producer, 52, in her new memoir, Rebel Rising, which will be released on Thursday.

Pitch Perfect star Wilson previously said she was going to write a chapter in the book about ‘a massive a**hole’ she had worked with in Hollywood – but did not initially reveal the person’s identity.

But on Monday, Wilson revealed on Instagram that she was referring to Ali G and Borat actor Baron Cohen, who she starred alongside on the 2016 spy action comedy Grimsby.

Now, in an interview with The Sunday Times, Wilson has opened up about her experience with Baron Cohen – who she first met at a dinner while living with British comedian Matt Lucas following their success on Bridesmaids in 2011.

Afterwards, Baron Cohen called Wilson to ask her to play his wife in Grimsby, which he had written and produced himself. ‘It turned out to be the worst professional experience of my career,’ Wilson said. 

Wilson played a character called Dawn, the plus-size wife of Nobby, played by Baron Cohen. 

But the actress claims today that she felt ‘disrespected on set’ and didn’t speak out at the time because she feared she would be seen as a ‘troublemaker’.

‘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,’ she added.

Wilson said that costumers were picked to ‘see all the cellulite on my thighs and a top to show the fattest part of my arm’, which made her feel like she was ‘something to be laughed at and degraded because of my size’.

Although Wilson had a no-nudity clause in her contact, Baron Cohen asked her to film a scene where she runs across a football pitch naked. After refusing, a stripper was hired instead and Wilson was asked to watch the scene on a monitor.

She said she felt the character was being ‘demeaned’ and people were laughing at her, rather than with her.

Wilson said she felt ‘ashamed’ of herself when she returned for the film’s reshoots months later. She said she never promoted the 2016 film and has never been unable to watch it.

Baron Cohen has denied Wilson’s claims about her experience on the Grimsby set this week. 

A representative of Baron Cohen said in a statement: ‘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’.’ 

Wilson was spotted exiting the Kelly Clarkson show in New York City on Friday and appeared in high spirits  despite the release of never-before-seen footage from Grimsby earlier, which appeared to cast doubt on her sexual harassment claims.

In her memoir, the actress also reveals that she didn’t lose her virginity until she was 35 and her troubles with binge eating.

Meanwhile, she also accuses Cohen of asking her to ‘stick her finger up his ass’ and strip nude during the making of the film.

But footage obtained exclusively by DailyMail.com seemingly depicts Wilson and Baron Cohen’s scene as scripted, indicating the actress’s full cooperation. 

In one pivotal intimate scene, Wilson’s character Dawn slaps the butt of Cohen’s character Nobby’s and then attempts to put her finger between his cheeks. He rejects her advances, saying, ‘Not my bumhole, Dawny. After that curry last night it’s like a loaded gun.’

Still on camera but out of her character, Wilson can be heard discussing the blocking, telling Cohen, ‘I’ll do a slap [of your butt] and I’ll do a – going down the crack’, to which Cohen replies, ‘It’s almost as if you’re going to ram your fingers inside.’

She answers, ‘Yeah.’

Indeed, producers tell DailyMail.com Wilson was well aware of the intimate scene at the time she accepted the role of Dawn and she was ‘fully engaged…confidently kissing Nobby’.

According to a call sheet obtained by DailyMail.com, the scene was shot at a stadium in Cape Town that was made to look like a bedroom.

The detailed call sheet shows which characters would be needed, which scenes would be shot and included a note in all caps, underlined and in bold that read, ‘No personal stills, video or digital photography or tweeting on set at any time including mobile phone cameras.’

In a statement to DailyMail.com, Wilson doubles down on her book’s description of Cohen as an a**hole.

‘It is an a**hole move to release footage of one part of that disgusting episode while leaving out everything that preceded it including my horrified refusal to stick my finger up SBC’s butt,’ she said.

‘This could not have possibly been for the film as the director Louis Leterrier was not even present,’ she claimed.

‘What this edited video shows is what I had to do in order to get out of the room, as written in Rebel Rising. Releasing unauthorized and misleading behind the scenes video without my approval is SBC’s latest way of bullying and gaslighting me.’

Last weekend, Wilson named Cohen as the celebrity responsible for making threats over her no-holds-barred memoir, Rebel Rising.

‘I wrote about an a**hole in my book,’ she told Instagram followers. ‘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.’

Taking to Instagram on Sunday to confirm the star’s identity, Rebel wrote: ‘I will not be silenced by high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers. The a**hole I am talking about in ONE CHAPTER of my book is: Sacha Baron Cohen.’