Rachel Bilson & Rami Malek
The O.C.'s Rachel Bilson insists she and Rami Malek are absolutely fine and have moved on from that Instagram photo drama.
In case you missed it, way back in 2019, she posted a throwback photo of them in high school.
However, he was less than impressed, and asked her to take it down.
She told the story during a chat on Dax Shepard's Armchair Expert in March.
The actress explained, "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."
It wasn't long before she received a message from Rami asking her to retract the photo.
"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.'"
Rachel remembered, "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.'"
She admitted the whole exchange, "bummed," her out, "because he was always so nice and we were good friends."
A further update
The story blew up online following the podcast episode's release, and now Rachel is offering a further update.
She told The LadyGang podcast that she has spoken to Rami since and they're absolutely fine.
"He connected with me, and we're all good," she said.
The actress continued, "He, you know, was so sweet and we're totally fine now and we talked about it and we're good."
"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."
Rachel added that she never meant for the story to go viral like it did.
"My friend sent me a CNN link to it. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?'" She recalled.
"I was so mortified though. Like, I was having a panic attack."
Rachel admitted, "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, she and Rami talked it out and it's all water under the bridge.
