Rachel Bilson Has Talked to Rami Malek Since That High School Photo Debacle

Rachel Bilson and Rami Malek are all good after a little Instagram drama. 

In case you missed it, the two actors are old high school friends, and they shared an awkward moment in 2019 after Bilson posted a throwback photo of the two of them. It was one of those from-the-vault pics that is simultaneously cute and cringeworthy—you know the type. 

Anyway, Bilson says the Bohemian Rhapsody actor didn’t want the photo online and asked her to remove it, which she did. When she shared this story a few weeks ago, it went totally viral. 

Now, Bilson is giving an update. “Rami and I actually have talked since that came out. He connected with me, and we’re all good,” she said on a recent LadyGang podcast episode. “He was so sweet and we’re totally fine now, and we talked about it and we’re good.”

She continued, “He was so gracious, and I totally understood where he was coming from and he understood me. And I was just so happy we were able to squash it and, like, move on.”

Bilson initially told this story to Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast. “I had posted a throwback of us from our senior trip to New York, Broadway. We were super nerdy, just the dorkiest picture of both of us,” she revealed, according to Entertainment Weekly. “Rami was a good friend of mine.” 

She said that after talking to Malek’s stylist, she discovered he didn’t like the photo. “I wrote to him a really nice message, like, ‘I’m so sorry. Go get the Oscar, you’re doing amazing.’ And I never hear anything back,” she recalled. “But I was super bummed because he was always so nice and we were good friends, and 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.”

Bilson told LadyGang she was surprised her comments about Malik even made news. “My friend sent me a CNN link to it. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’” she said. “I was so mortified, though. Like, I was having a panic attack. I had to go to therapy that day, and I was like, ‘I am having anxiety. I did not want this to resurface in this way. I feel so bad. Oh, my god. Rami is going to think I’m doing this again.’” 

Thankfully, they were able to put the whole situation behind them. She explained, “It actually turned out to be a good thing for a reason, because we were able to reconnect and, like, make it better and everything is great.”

Listen to Rachel Bilson’s full conversation on LadyGang here.