Rachel Bilson claims ex-classmate Rami Malek asked her to remove throwback pic from Instagram: ‘I was bummed at how it was handled’

‘I guess I should’ve found something more flattering,’ said Bilson

Rachel Bilson has recalled a time that her former high school classmate Rami Malek asked her to remove a photo of the two of them together from social media.

Bilson shared the throwback picture shortly before Malek won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing Freddie Mercury in 2018’s Bohemian Rhapsody.

Speaking to Dax Shephard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Bilson claimed that Malek, who was “a good friend” of hers at Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, wasn’t happy with the photo being shared.

“I had posted a throwback of us from our senior trip to New York,” she said. “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.”

In the picture, Malek is seen wearing a gold chain. The picture was captioned with the phrase: “Hey Rami where’d you get that gold chain?”

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Bilson said that she then saw a response from Malek a week later in her Instagram DMs.

“It wasn’t like, ‘Hey! How are you?’ It was straight to: ‘I would really appreciate if you take that down. I’m a really private person,’” she claimed.

“I was like, ‘Oh, s***! OK.’ I get really hot and start sweating. I’m all nervous, like, ‘Oh god! What did I do?’ He was a good friend, it’s a funny picture…you know? I don’t take myself that seriously,” Bilson added.

Bilson added that she had been told by Malek’s stylist, a friend of hers, that it was “not a great picture of him”.

Rami Malek in the Oscar-winning role of Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody (20th Century Fox)

Josh Schwartz, who created The OC, also apparently told Bilson that she “did [Malek] dirty” ahead of the Oscars.

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“I was like, I guess I should’ve found something more flattering,” added Bilson. “But I removed it and I even wrote to him a really nice message: ‘I’m so sorry. Go get the Oscar! You’re doing amazing.’ And I never hear anything back, which is fine. But I was super bummed because he was always so nice and we were good friends.

“I’m a big fan of not taking yourself so seriously, especially at that level of fame and talent, but look, he wants to be super respected and that’s his thing, so I respected it and took it down. I was just a little bummed at how it was handled.”

Bohemian Rhapsody can be streamed now on Amazon Prime Video.