Rachel Bilson Opens Up About Her Bizarre Rami Malek #TBT Photo Drama
Rachel Bilson scolded by Rami Malek for posting an old photo of them in High School
File this under: niche and bizarre Hollywood drama. The actors Rachel Bilson and Rami Malek are in a weird sort of feud because Bilson posted an old photo of the Oscar winner from when he was in high school and apparently, he did not like that and demanded she take the photo down.
Back in January 2019, Bilson — who went to high school with Malek in Los Angeles — posted a #TBT photo of the two when they were teenagers and school pals. Bilson posted it a few days before his Oscar win and jokingly hashtagged it “don’t forget the little people.” Shortly after posting it, the photo disappeared from her Instagram grid, Malek went on to win an Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody and nobody thought about the photo again.
Then, this week, the former The O.C. star revealed to Dax Shepard during an episode of his podcast, “Armchair Expert,” that Malek DM’d Bilson and asked her to take down the photo.
No pleasantries, no nothing, just “delete that.”
“Rami was a good friend of mine,” Bilson told Shepard. “We were [in] the same crew. We did ‘The Crucible’ together senior year, we were the leads in it together — all these things.”
“Obviously, he gets super famous and he’s always been extremely talented…even in high school. I had posted a throwback of us from our senior trip to New York. We’re super nerdy…just the dorkiest picture of the both of us. But I throw it up, ’cause it’s funny and I think it’s so important to be able to make fun of yourself,” Bilson said.
Bilson said Malek messaged her after seeing the photo and she said that he didn’t lead with “like, ‘Hey! How are you?!’” but instead, “It was straight to: ‘I would really appreciate if you take that down. I’m a really private person.’”
Bilson deleted the photo as Malek requested, (though outlets like People still have a copy online if you’d like to see), and I don’t see what the problem is. Malek is rocking spiky hair, a gold chain, and corduroy — All I see is two theater dorks in full ’90s glory. The only reason I can see for Malek wanting the photo removed is because this ’90s bro doesn’t really go with his current aesthetic of “hipster artist.” I guess Malek has an image to maintain, but like…pretending you never existed as a teenager?? Weird flex, but okay????
Bilson said she got really nervous when Malek sent her that DM, but she deleted it and even wrote him back to apologize, but Malek didn’t respond.
“I removed it, and I even wrote to him a really nice message like, ‘I’m so sorry! Go get the Oscar! You’re doing amazing.’ And I never heard anything back, which is fine,” she said. “I was super bummed because he was so nice, and we were good friends. I’m a big fan of not taking yourself seriously, especially at that level of fame and talent. But look, he wants to be super respected. It’s his thing, so I respected it. I took it down. I was just a little bummed at how it was handled.”
Artists, man.
