Rachel Bilson reveals her old classmate Rami Malek asked her to take down a throwback snap

Rachel Bilson revealed on a new podcast interview that her former high school classmate Rami Malek asked her to take down a throwback snap.

The 39-year-old actress attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California with the 39-year-old actor, with Bilson revealing to Dax Shepard on his Armchair Expert podcast that she shared a throwback snap just before he won the Oscar for Bohemian Rhapsody.

While Bilson thought it was a fun photo, she revealed to Shepard that her old friend reached out and asked her to take it down shortly after posting it.

Bilson explained that Rami was, ‘a good friend of mine’ in high school, adding they were, ‘in the same crew, we did The Crucible together senior year, we were the leads in it.’

She added that, throughout the years they had ‘kind of kept in contact’ before he got ‘super famous,’ adding he was always ‘super talented’ and a ‘really amazing actor, 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,’ she explained.

She added that Rami had a gold chain on in the photo, and she said in the caption, ‘Hey Rami where’d you get that gold chain?’ 

Bilson admitted that she doesn’t check her Instagram DM’s too often, but a week later she saw a message from Malek. 

‘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 explained.

‘I was like, ‘Oh, s**t! OK.’ 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,’ Bilson added.

She added that she is friends with Malek’s stylist and asked her about it, and she said, ‘Well it’s not a great picture of him.’

‘It was right before the Oscars and I remember [The O.C. creator] Josh Schwartz being like, “You did him dirty. He’s about to be nominated.”‘

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

She added that she’s a ‘big fan of not taking yourself so seriously, especially with that talent and fame, 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.’

Bilson had her big break just a few years out of high school, starring in Fox’s The O.C., while Malek had his big break in 2015 with Mr. Robot, before winning his Oscar in 2019 for playing Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody.