Actress Rebel Wilson today reveals she would now be strong enough to walk away from the alleged ‘degrading’ treatment she claims she suffered at the hands of Sacha Baron Cohen.
The Australian-born star, 44, tells today’s edition of Desert Island Discs that she allowed herself to be ‘degraded’ by the British comedian because she lacked the self-esteem to stand up for herself when they acted together in the 2016 film Grimsby.
Wilson – who has said that earlier in her career she was often cast as the ‘fat, funny girl’ – tells presenter Lauren Laverne: ‘That was the worst professional experience and that was where it crossed the line.
‘It wasn’t comedy. It just crossed the line into an experience where I did feel humiliated and degraded for being an overweight woman.’
Actress Rebel Wilson (pictured) today reveals she would now be strong enough to walk away from the alleged ‘degrading’ treatment she claims she suffered at the hands of Sacha Baron Cohen
Rebel Wilson pictured with Sacha Baron Cohen in The Brothers Grimsby
She continues: ‘Even though at the time I reported it, nothing really happened.
‘I stayed in a situation and had things said to me and stuff that I should have left. The me now would be strong enough, but back then I just didn’t have enough self-esteem to leave and I thought I’d be labelled as unprofessional if I left.’
In Grimsby, which was a failure at the box office, Baron Cohen played a feckless football hooligan called Nobby who has 11 children with his partner Dawn, Wilson’s role. The film also starred Mark Strong as Nobby’s unlikely brother.
In her recent memoir Rebel Rising, Wilson accused the Ali G and Borat actor of pressuring her into doing a nude scene and making her wear clothes that showed her in the most unflattering light.
In Grimsby, which was a failure at the box office, Baron Cohen played a feckless football hooligan called Nobby who has 11 children with his partner Dawn, Wilson’s role. Pictured: Rebel at a film premiere last month
He is also alleged to have bullied her and asked her to stick her finger up his ‘b**t’.
Baron Cohen, who co-wrote and produced the film, has denied all of Wilson’s claims.
In her Desert Island Discs interview, the actress – who made her name in the film Bridesmaids and the Pitch Perfect series – does not make any specific allegations. But she does say she has no regrets about telling her story ‘in one way to release the shame that I had sustained in a situation that wasn’t great.’
She adds: ‘I guess it’s a final release of the emotions of it, and if it can help a few people out there then it’s worth it.’
lDesert Island Discs is on BBC Radio 4 today at 10am and is available via BBC Sounds.
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