The resurfaced story that changes the Rebel Wilson and Sacha Baron Cohen allegations.

In the space of a week, Rebel Wilson has gone from mentioning an unnamed Hollywood "a**hole," she had written about in her upcoming memoir to very much... naming him. 

In an Instagram post this week about her memoir, Rebel Rising, Wilson alleged an "a**hole in my book" had attempted to stop her writing about him. "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," Wilson wrote in a now-deleted Instagram Story.

Then, in an Instagram Story uploaded on Monday, Wilson revealed the person she was referring to was Sacha Baron Cohen, who was her co-star in the 2016 action-comedy, The Brothers Grimsby. 

A spokesperson for the Borat star has since responded in a statement given to The Hollywood Reporter. "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," the statement reads.

Sacha Baron Cohen and wife Isla Fisher in 2021. Image: Getty. 

For many of us, these allegations came out of nowhere. However, people who have followed Wilson's career closely will know this isn't the first time she's made concerning allegations about a Hollywood actor.

At the height of the #MeToo movement in 2017, Wilson spoke out about an unnamed "male star" who had sexually harassed her on-set. "I've been away in a 'bubble' of sorts creating new comedy overseas but it’s so hard to hear all these stories relating to sexual harassment and assault in Hollywood," she posted on Twitter in 2017.

"A male star, in a position of power, asked me to go into a room with him and then asked me repeatedly to stick my finger up his a**. All whilst his male 'friends' tried to film the incident on their iPhones and laughed. I repeatedly said no and eventually got out of the room."

The Pitch Perfect actor went on to say that she relayed the incident to her agent. "I called my agent immediately and my lawyer made a complaint with the studio... basically to protect myself that in the event something similar ever occurred I'd be able to walk out of the job and not obliged to return," she claimed.

"I was threatened by one of the star's representatives to be nice and support the male star. I refused. The whole thing was disgusting."

Rebel Wilson and her fiancee Ramona Agruma in 2024. Image: Getty. 

There's no suggestion this allegation was levelled at Baron Cohen. However, Wilson shared a starkly similar story in a previous radio interview when speaking about her experience working with the actor on The Brothers Grimsby.

"Sacha and I have the same agent in America and I’m like, ‘Sacha, I'm going to call our agent Sharon and tell her how much you are harassing me.' Every day he's like, 'Just go naked, it will be funny,'" she told Kyle and Jackie O in 2014.

"Then in the last scene ... he was like, 'Rebel can you just stick your finger up my butt?' And I went, 'What do you mean Sacha? That’s not in the script.' And he’s like, 'Look, I'll just pull down my pants, you just stick your finger up my butt, it'll be a really funny bit.'"

Wilson said she politely turned down the request but felt the need to offer another gesture. "You don't wanna be a diva so I ... said, 'I'll slap you once on the butt and that's it,'" Wilson told the hosts.

"Sacha is so outrageous."

Listen to The Spill discuss the real story behind Rebel Wilosn's allegations against Sacha Baron Cohen.

While Wilson's interview doesn't prove her allegations true or false, it does have people taking a closer look at the she and Baron Cohen starred together — and viewing her working relationship with the actor in a new light.

Wilson's allegations about what went on on the set of The Brothers Grimsby are far from the only controversy the film courted. The movie follows a man named Nobby (played by Baron Cohen) living in the English fishing town of Grimsby with his girlfriend (Wilson) and their nine children. Nobby is reunited with his long-lost brother, Sebastian (Mark Strong), only to discover he's now an MI6 agent on the run.

Along with Baron Cohen, Wilson and Strong, the movie stars Penélope Cruz and Baron Cohen's wife, Isla Fisher. 

On the promo trail, Baron Cohen spoke about what it was like kissing Wilson in one scene: "The last 14 years in films, I have only kissed men. She was one of the first kisses with a woman that I have filmed in the last 14 years other than my wife. I'd say she's up there. An 8 [out of 10]?" he told E! News in 2016 in a comment that hasn't aged well.

The movie featured several outrageous, tone-deaf and offensive storylines, including Sebastian shooting an AIDS-afflicted Jewish-Palestinian boy whose blood lands in the mouth of Daniel Radcliffe's character. In another scene, Nobby sucks poison out of the testicles of his brother, Sebastian.

Aside from the controversial storylines, the film was met with outrage for its unflattering portrayal of the very real town of Grimsby. "Leaving aside the awkwardness of a millionaire comedian rinsing its poverty for cheap laughs, the last thing it needs is anything that might put companies off relocating there and bringing jobs," a local writer wrote in The Guardian.

Upon its release, The Brothers Grimsby was widely regarded as both a critical and box-office flop.

Wilson's book, Rebel Rising, will be released in Australia on April 3, 2024 and will chart the film star's "unconventional journey" from growing up in Australia before breaking into Hollywood.

Feature image: Getty.