Rebel Wilson’s ‘sexual harassment’ claims against Sacha Baron Cohen ‘catalyst’ for Isla Fisher to go public with split
SACHA Baron Cohen and wife Isla Fisher have announced they have split — days after actress Rebel Wilson claimed he sexually harassed her.
The Ali G and Borat star, 52, and Isla, 48, are divorcing after nearly 14 years of marriage.
The Sun understands Rebel’s claims, made in her memoir, and vehemently denied by him, were a catalyst for Isla, 48, to publicly reveal the break-up.
It is understood she consulted lawyers over a separation last year after 13 years of marriage and three children together.
Sacha, 52, is said to have been desperate to keep it secret.
A statement alongside the tennis pic posted on their Instagram yesterday read: “After a long tennis match lasting over 20 years, we are finally putting our racquets down.
“In 2023 we jointly filed to end our marriage.
“We have always prioritised our privacy and have been quietly working through this change.
“We forever share in our devotion and love for our children.
“We sincerely appreciate your respecting our family’s wish for privacy.”
Aussie actress Rebel, 44, played Sacha’s girlfriend in 2016 action comedy Grimsby.
But in her memoir Rebel Rising, released in the US on Tuesday, she said it “felt like Sacha Baron Cohen had sexually harassed me” during filming in South Africa.
A source told The Sun: “Rebel’s book was a catalyst in Isla deciding to announce this to the world.
“She’s got her own career and reputation to worry about.
“Those close to her said it was starting to get embarrassing with all of the allegations that were spilling out of Rebel’s book.
“So she felt as though it was the right thing to do to inform everyone of their decision.
“Sacha, on the other hand did not want that.
“He has been making as though it’s business as usual before they made this announcement.”
The couple, parents to daughters Olive, 17 and Elula, 13, and son Montgomery, nine, are understood to have still been living together in Los Angeles and London.
But they are believed to have told friends they had called it quits a year ago.
Yet in October they were seen in London celebrating Jewish new year and, according to onlookers, “seemed very much together”.
They didn’t want to throw their love away for the sake of their family. Privately, though, friends were made aware.
Source
The last picture Isla posted of them together was of them on the red carpet on November 26.
On November 17, she shared a selfie of them holding beers and smiling in Sydney and referred to him as her “off-screen date”.
Sacha’s last post of Isla was shared on February 3 2023, the day of her 47th birthday.
Alongside the snap of her holding a pint, he wrote: “Isla looking at me and thinking ‘Ten more of these and I may find him a tiny bit attractive’. Happy birthday my darling.”
A source close to the couple said: “They have been having difficulties for some time and have battled to make things work.
“They didn’t want to throw their love away for the sake of their family. Privately, though, friends were made aware.
“They went to great lengths to keep things ‘business as usual’ on social media so as to control the narrative in a way they both felt comfortable with.
“This decision wasn’t taken lightly and they remain incredibly close. There’s still a lot of love there.”
Rebel has claimed that while filming Grimsby, titled The Brothers Grimsby on its US release, the comic would “mention that he wanted me to go naked in a future scene” — which she said was in “no way essential” to the plot.
In the most shocking allegation, she says she was “lured” from her trailer into a concrete room with just a mattress on the floor and Sacha and his pals inside.
She said his mates then recorded on phones as he told Rebel: “OK, now I want you to stick your finger up my a**, for a scene he had apparently said would be in the movie.
“She said he made her change into clothes “where you could see as much cellulite as possible”, feeling as though he “wanted me to look and feel awful”.
Rebel felt “scared” and claims no director or film crew were there to witness the incident.
She added: “It’s my opinion that Sacha Baron Cohen gets off on making people feel uncomfortable.”
She has branded him a “massive a****e” and “threatened” her, also saying he called in lawyers to try to stop her book being published.
Sacha’s people have called her claims “demonstrably false” and “directly contradicted by extensive evidence”.
Sacha's characters
SACHA made his screen debut on EastEnders in 1988.
His comedy career took off as fictional wannabe gangster Ali G, head of a street gang, “Da West Staines Massive.”
His alter ego, below, appeared on The 11 O’Clock Show, then the Ali G Show on Channel 4 and in 2002 film Ali G Indahouse.
Next Sacha had a voiceover role as King Julien in 2005 animated hit Madagascar.
A year later, his film Borat, about a spoof Kazakh journalist visiting the US, won him a Golden Globe and made the neon green mankini a cultural icon.
He followed up with Brüno in 2009, about a gay Austrian fashion reporter.
Sacha has also appeared in dramatic films including Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Les Misérables and The Trial of the Chicago 7.
In 2016, he starred in Grimsby and Alice Through the Looking Glass.
His controversial follow-up Borat Subsequent Moviefilm in 2020 saw him infiltrate real-life situations to poke fun at US politicians.
Sacha’s latest film, animation Luca was released in 2021 and picked up an Oscar nomination.
This year he will be seen in psychological thriller Disclaimer.
The New York Post’s showbiz column Page Six last night said the couple had posted the tennis pic and statement after it approached them for comment having learned they were living separate lives.
The paper reported Sacha met LA lawyers in late 2023, but that the divorce is being filed in London.
The couple are said to have attended Oscars parties on their own last month.
Sacha has described how he met the Wedding Crashers actress at a “very pretentious party” in Sydney in 2001.
He said they bonded over “taking the mick out of other people in the party” — and he knew it was love at first sight.
He said she was “hilarious” and added: “I knew instantly. I don’t know if she did. It’s taken her about 20 years to know.”
They got engaged in 2004, with Isla converting to Judaism for Sacha.
They wed six years later in a secret ceremony in Paris attended by just six guests.
Isla's film roles
ISLA first came to prominence when she began playing schoolgirl Shannon Reed in Aussie soap Home and Away in 1994.
She made the move to Hollywood and made an impact in kids film Scooby-Doo in 2002 and then in hit comedy Wedding Crashers in 2005.
Confessions of a Shopaholic in 2009, The Great Gatsby in 2013 and playing opposite Steve Coogan in Greed in 2019 are among her other major films.