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9 May 2024 8:43
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  •   Home > News > International

    Chapter to be redacted in Australian version of Rebel Wilson's memoir due to legal reasons

    The Australian publishers of Rebel Wilson's memoir have confirmed a chapter will be redacted due to legal issues when the book is published in May. A spokesperson for Sacha Baron Cohen has responded saying the publisher didn't fact check the chapter prior to publication and that claims made about the Borat star are "demonstrably false".


    When Rebel Wilson's memoir is published in Australia and New Zealand next month, parts of it will be redacted for legal reasons.

    Wilson's memoir was initially slated for an April release in Australia, but publication was delayed.

    It came out in the United States on April 2 under publisher Simon & Schuster, with excerpts quoted in the media.

    One of those excerpts — about fellow actor Sacha Baron Cohen — of which Wilson designates a chapter won't see the light of day locally.

    A statement from HarperCollins Australia released to ABC News reads:

    "For legal reasons we have redacted one chapter in the ANZ edition and included an explanatory note accordingly.

    "That chapter is a very small part of a much bigger story and we're excited for readers to know Rebel's story when the book is released, on Wednesday 8 May."

    The UK edition was released Thursday with blacked out text and a note saying the redactions were made "due to peculiarities of the law in England and Wales".

    Wilson began promoting Rebel Rising earlier this year and in March posted an Instagram story saying she would "not be bullied or silenced with high priced lawyers or PR crisis managers" who she said Cohen had hired to stop the book's publication.

    Wilson's account of working on the film Grimsby (known as The Brothers Grimsby in the US) with Cohen has been described by the Borat star as "demonstrably false" and "directly contradicted by extensive detailed evidence."

    Wilson says she felt humiliated by the comedian on the set of the 2016 movie, claiming she was asked to perform a lewd act.

    In response to this latest news about the redactions, Cohen's spokesperson issued a statement to ABC News saying:

    "HarperCollins 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.

    "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.

    "The removal of false material is a clear victory for Sacha Baron Cohen and confirms what we said from the beginning — that this is demonstrably false, asserted in a shameful and failed effort to sell books."

    What else is in the memoir?

    Wilson, who starred in Bridesmaids and Pitch Perfect, writes about losing her virginity at 35 and how she was initially "terrified" of physical intimacy.

    "I was either so innocent, in my teens, or so busy making myself look grotesquely unattractive for comedic purposes, that no romantic opportunity ever presented itself," she's quoted as writing.

    Wilson also writes about her sexuality and welcoming the birth of her daughter in November 2022 with fiancé Ramona Agruma via surrogate.

    Her struggles with her weight also feature in the book. She writes about appearing in the SBS comedy Fat Pizza, saying she was subject to some "fatphobic" jokes, a claim Paul Fenech, who created the show took issue with.

    Wilson also alleges she was invited to a drug-fuelled orgy at a US tech billionaire's home by a member of the British Royal family, who she says was "15th or 20th in the line to the British throne".

    What have the reactions been so far?

    HarperCollins describes Wilson's memoir as "refreshingly candid, hilarious and inspiring" but the critics have not been as kind.

    iNews in Britain says the book is "so poorly written it's distracting."

    The Telegraph said it contains a "potpourri of weak jokes and self-indulgence."

    Rebel Rising is due to be released in Australia May 8.

    © 2024 ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation. All rights reserved

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