Rachel Bilson and Rami Malek have apparently been involved in some drama that’s straight out of a high school yearbook.
The former star of The O.C. sat down with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman on a recent episode of their podcast, Armchair Expert, and shared an odd story about the Oscar winner.
Apparently, back in February 2019, Rachel shared a snapshot of herself and Rami in New York City when they were teenagers, in an effort to poke fun at their younger selves.
The pair were friends back in the day, having both attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, so the image was a nod to where they came from.
“Rami was a good friend of mine,” explained Rachel.“We were [in] the same crew. We did [the play] The Crucible together [in] senior year, we were the leads in it together— all these things.”
Rachel figured the throwback photo would be a fun way to celebrate Rami amid his various appearances at various awards shows in 2019 for his performance as Freddie Mercury in the Queen film Bohemian Rhapsody.
“Obviously, he gets super famous and he’s always been extremely talented … even in high school,” she continued.
“I had posted a throwback of us from our senior trip to New York… just the dorkiest picture of the both of us. But I throw it up [on Instagram], ’cause it’s funny and I think it’s so important to be able to make fun of yourself.”
However, she then that the image soon prompted a direct message from Rami on Instagram.
Rachel said that when her old friend contacted her there was no “hey! how are you?”.
“It was straight to: ‘I would really appreciate if you take that down. I’m a really private person’,” she revealed.
“I was like, ‘Oh, shit! Okay!’ I get really hot and start sweating. I’m all nervous, like, ‘Oh god! What did I do?’. He was a really good friend, it’s a funny picture … you know? I don’t take myself that seriously.”
Rachel later spoke with Rami’s stylist, a friend of hers, who said: “Well it’s not a great picture of him.”
She also said that The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz remarked on the post, telling her: “You did him dirty. He’s about to be [Oscar] nominated.”
“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’,” Rachel recalled. “And I never heard anything back, which is fine.
“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.”
Rami probably didn’t stay too upset, though. He walked away with the Oscar for Best Actor just a few weeks later.
Listen to Rachel’s full interview on the Armchair Expert podcast.
A version of this story previously appeared on the US edition of HuffPost.
