Rachel Bilson and Rami Malek. TNS

Gulf Today Report

Looks like Oscar-winning actor Rami Malek wants nothing to do with his formative years or former friends.

At least that’s what fellow actor Rachel Bilson seems to have implied in a recent interview.

“The OC” star recently recounted the episode when her former high school classmate and friend Malek asked her to delete a photo of the two of them together from social media.

During the height of Malek’s fame during the 2019 awards season — owing to his acclaimed turn as Freddy Mercury in “Bohemian Rhapsody” — Bilson decided to have some fun by sharing a “nerdy” throwback picture from their senior year on Instagram.

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This was shortly before Malek won the Academy Award for Best Actor for playing the aforementioned role in the 2018 movie.

However, Bilson was taken aback with the star’s reaction.

Speaking in a 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?”

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

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

“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.”