Rebel Wilson Breaks Silence After Being Forced To Redact Memoir

Rebel Wilson has finally weighed in on the legal issues that have delayed the release of her memoir in Australia, saying she’s “not happy”. 

Although her memoir Rebel Rising was released in the US on April 2, it was only released in Australia today – but readers will come across one redacted chapter with blacked-out lines.

Rebel has been embroiled in a legal battle with Sacha Baron Cohen, claiming his lawyers hit her with a legal letter to “silence” her. It makes sense that the missing chapter is titled “Sacha Baron Cohen and Other Assholes”.

The publisher HarperCollins Australia issued a statement, saying: “For legal reasons we have redacted one chapter in the Australian/New Zealand edition and included an explanatory note accordingly.”

Rebel shared plenty of spicy stories in her memoir. (Image: Instagram @rebelwilson)

Wilson appeared on The Project on Tuesday night, and told hosts her memoir was “watered down a bit”.

“Obviously behind the scenes that was something I was not happy about. I mean Australia is my home country, if anything I want my full story told and I will say… the book is not about [Sacha Baron Cohen],” she said. 

“I know there’s been a lot of media [coverage] about [him]. But it’s not about that guy and it’s just my full life story.”

Wilson added that she didn’t want to spend time in court, especially since she’s busy with her one-year-old daughter Royce.

“At least it’s come out now. Being a new mum I didn’t want to have some lengthy legal battle for it to come out,” she said. 

What has Sacha Baron Cohen said about Rebel Wilson’s book?

In her memoir, Wilson talked about the “worst experience” of her “professional life” while starring in The Brothers Grimsby, claiming Baron Cohen “wanted [her] to go naked” in multiple scenes. She also called Baron Cohen an “asshole” on her Instagram Story. 

At the time, Baron Cohen’s representatives issued a statement, saying: “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 after the production of The Brothers Grimsby.”

Rebel claims she had a bad experience on The Brother Grimsby. (Image: Sony)

After redactions were made in the UK version of Rebel Rising, his representatives released another statement, saying: “Harper Collins 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.”

It continued: “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, in a shameful and failed effort to sell books.”

Rebel Wilson’s book Rebel Rising is now available to purchase in Australia.

Feature image: Sony & Getty