The Australian publisher of Rebel Wilson’s bombshell new memoir has explained why the book is not yet available for sale.
Rebel Rising was supposed to hit shelves on April 3, but fans trying to get their hands on the book in-store or online on Wednesday had no luck.
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Clicking links to Australian online booksellers such as Dymocks and Amazon Australia brought up error codes and “this book is currently unavailable” messages.
A bookseller in Perth told 7Life on Wednesday that the book’s publication had been delayed due to “legal issues”.
But Harper Collins Australia has stated there is an entirely different reason for the book’s delay in Australia and the UK.
“Publication of Rebel Rising in the UK and Australia has been moved to coincide with Rebel Wilson’s press tours,” a spokesperson told HELLO!
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The book is already available in the United States, where 44-year-old Wilson is in the midst of her press tour.
The actress is set to tour the UK to promote the book at the end of April, with the book now due for release there on April 25.
Wilson is set to return to Australia for a book tour in May, with an event at the Sydney Opera House on May 9.
With fans unable to find copies online on the original April 3 publication date, and customers who had pre-ordered the book receiving refunds without explanation, speculation began to mount that the book had been “pulled” due to Wilson’s controversial recollections of working with actor and comedian Sacha Baron Cohen.
In early excerpts published by People, Wilson said Baron Cohen was an “a*****” on the set of 2016 film The Brothers Grimsby and she had been “scared” of him.
Baron Cohen’s lawyers rejected various claims made by Wilson in the book, but Wilson hit back, saying she would not be “silenced” by lawyers or “PR crisis managers”.
“It felt like every time I’d speak to SBC, he’d mention that he wanted me to go naked in a future scene,” Wilson claims in the book.
“I was like, ‘Ha, I don’t do nudity, Sacha’.”
Baron Cohen then allegedly summoned her to film a lewd “additional scene” for the movie.
The Bridesmaids star said no and “compromised” by slapping him on the bottom and improvising a handful of lines so she could “get out of there”.
Baron Cohen, via a spokesperson, denied all allegations to CNN.
“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 spokesperson said.
In a 2016 interview with UK Marie Claire, Wilson spoke about Baron Cohen wanting her to film a nude scene.
“You want to know that the people (behind the camera) have a certain sensibility and decency,” Wilson said at the time.
“And a lot of times in comedy, they’re not those people.”
In Rebel Rising, Wilson said there was an ulterior motive for publishing the allegations about Baron Cohen.
“I’m not about cancelling anybody and that’s not my motivation for sharing this story,” she wrote.
“I’m sharing my story now because the more women talk about things like this, hopefully the less it happens.”
7NEWS.com.au has contacted Harper Collins Australia for comment.
