Rebel Wilson memoir: entire chapter on Sacha Baron Cohen redacted from book in Australia
Rebel Wilson’s memoir will finally be published in Australia but with an entire chapter on her account of working with Sacha Baron Cohen redacted – weeks after it was published in its entirety in the US.
HarperCollins Australia confirmed to the Guardian that “for legal reasons we have redacted one chapter in the Australian/New Zealand 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 chapter, titled Sacha Baron Cohen and Other Assholes, will be printed entirely as blacked out lines in Australia and New Zealand.
This means the Australian edition of Rebel Rising will be the most affected of all versions of the Australian actor’s book. Differences in defamation law around the world have determined how much of the chapter can be included.
On Wednesday, HarperCollins in the UK confirmed to the Guardian that “most of one page” would be redacted there, along with “some other small redactions” and “an explanatory note” added in.
In the highly publicised chapter, Wilson recounts her alleged experience filming the 2016 comedy film Grimsby – titled The Brothers Grimsby in the US – alongside Baron Cohen. Wilson and Baron Cohen played husband and wife in the film.
In the UK edition, published there on Thursday, Wilson describes it as “the worst experience of my professional life”, with a new line adding that her account “can’t be printed here due to peculiarities of the law in England and Wales”. Most of a page in the UK edition is blacked out, along with several more redacted lines on other pages.