Truth about Sacha Baron Cohen’s ‘midlife crisis’: As actor gets cosy with influencers and OnlyFans model half his age, insiders tell ALISON BOSHOFF what’s really going on… and what Isla Fisher thinks of it all

Sacha Baron Cohen is a very funny guy, so when he said he’d ‘hard-started’ his midlife crisis by revealing a wavy new physique on the cover of Men’s Fitness magazine this summer, it seemed like just a joke.

But a few months later, it looks like Ali G and the Borat star is indeed going through some sort of rebuilding process.

For example, she was recently spotted exchanging phone numbers on a sidewalk in Los Angeles with a glamorous influencer who is just under her age.

Baron Cohen, 54, was photographed saying goodbye to Kelsey Calemine, 26, on Friday after she saved her number on her cell phone. When he arrived later, he took her to an Uber.

It must be said that it was a completely harmless farewell – there wasn’t even a kiss on the cheek – but Baron Cohen, who announced his split from wife actress Isla Fisher last year, was apparently ‘flirting’ with Calemine at a Hollywood nightclub. He was there to celebrate the birthday of a friend in the entertainment industry.

A source said: ‘He was staring at Kelsey and then walked over and started chatting to her. ‘They were both very flirty outside and wouldn’t stop laughing.’

This followed a dinner he had at a steakhouse in Beverly Hills in September with OnlyFans model Hannah Palmer, who was just 27 and had apparently met at a birthday party thrown by fun-loving director Taika Waititi, husband of pop star Rita Ora.

Sources close to the star announced that this is the case Only a dinner — not a date — and said he might have given Palmer career advice. Having a figure that would make Jessica Rabbit cry with envy is neither here nor there.

The actor was also spotted with OnlyFans model Hannah Palmer, whom he met at a birthday party thrown by fun-loving director Taika Waititi.

Unless it’s a mid-life crisis, Baron Cohen seems to be hitting the ground running with Hollywood’s fast-paced, fun crowd; It consists of Waititi, Rita Ora and friends including actress Natasha Lyonne and trailblazing model Kate Moss; They were all at Waititi’s days-long 50th birthday party in Ibiza.

Meanwhile, his ex-girlfriend Isla Fisher is quietly reinventing herself in a north London mansion where she lives with her three children.

In interviews, she describes her ‘sadness’ over the end of their 14-year marriage and how she cried as she moved into the house as a single woman. So is she really out partying while he’s suffering through their divorce?

Baron Cohen’s friends say it’s unfair to think he isn’t also mourning the end of their marriage. ‘After the divorce, he took things slowly,’ says one. ‘There’s no rush on his part to be with other people.

‘He goes out sometimes but he’s not much of a club-going guy. ‘There was a bit of flirting and a bit of going out, nothing more than that.’

In fact, I’m told there hasn’t been any serious romance for him since they announced their separation in the spring of 2024.

Moreover, out of respect for Isla and their children, he will not announce a new relationship until he reaches a certain level of seriousness.

‘The story being told is that Sacha picks up hot young women in nightclubs, but that’s not true,’ says a source.

‘He has great respect for Isla and is also conscious of his children’s feelings. That’s why you haven’t seen him on dates or with anyone else.

‘He is a man who takes his and his family’s privacy very seriously, which is why he is not seen outside much. This means that when seen near a single woman, everyone rushes to say that there is something to it. Unfortunately, people assume a relationship that doesn’t exist.

‘In this situation [with Kelsey Calemine] It was a simple, very limited social interaction, nothing more than that.’

The source adds: ‘Sacha and Isla have been married for so long and there has been an adjustment period. If he meets someone new he’s open to it but that’s not where we are right now.’

I was told that her life was essentially divided between her A-listers in the US and a house in London, where she spent very quiet time with her three children. ‘He divides his time and goes back and forth. The source says he is often with the kids.

Fisher and Baron Cohen announced their separation in April last year in a typically unconventional post featuring the two in tennis attire. ‘After a long game of tennis, lasting more than 20 years, we are finally putting down our rackets,’ he said.

They said they would remain friends, and this June they released another statement saying the divorce was now final and the friendship was intact.

‘We are proud of what we have accomplished together and, maintaining our great respect for each other, we remain friends and committed to co-parenting our wonderful children,’ the statement said.

Shortly after, the two were photographed attending the Wimbledon tennis championships separately. Fisher poked fun at him on Instagram: ‘Wait a minute? Who is looking after the children? @sachabaroncohen.’ This all seems friendly enough.

But there are still rumors that divorce is ‘hell’ and that there is a ‘battle’ for his £100 million fortune. Of course, Fisher seemed to encourage the view that he was attacking her at times.

Over the summer he posted on Instagram: ‘For all the men wondering why buy the cow when you can get the milk for free. Here’s an update for you. Today, 80 percent of women are against marriage. From where? Because women know it’s not worth buying a whole pig just to get some sausages.’

And on a more serious note, she opened up about her divorce struggles during press interviews to promote her new movie, Now You See Me, Now You Don’t.

She told NewBeauty magazine last week: ‘I’m not going to lie, it was a really tough time. I definitely feel like there’s something in the divorce club that everyone understands in a way that others don’t. It’s a different pain.

Isla Fisher and Baron Cohen were married for nearly 14 years and had three children during that time.

They announced their split in April last year in a casual post in which the pair wore tennis gear.

‘I feel like creating a new identity after divorce is a lot of fun. ‘You can reflect on your values ​​and goals, explore new interests, focus on what you want and rebuild your sense of self.’

In a recent interview with Elle Decor about her life and home, she added: ‘Trying to create a new life from the ground up has been challenging, at least emotionally, but extremely rewarding.

‘I’m enjoying this new version of my life. I don’t need to party at my house anymore. I love going into the bathroom. I’ll light some candles, bring my laptop, and put something on Netflix. This is as exciting as it gets.’

Baron Cohen’s friend says: ‘Their relationship, like every divorced couple, has its ups and downs. There is a lot of respect in general. Sometimes maybe there will be a memory. Everyone here is just human.’

Born to a Scottish family in Muscat, the capital of Oman, Fisher grew up in Perth, Australia. She was best known for her role as schoolgirl Shannon Reed in the Sydney-based Australian series Home And Away, but also appeared in the romantic comedy film Confessions Of A Shopaholic and then in Wedding Crashers opposite Owen Wilson.

Sacha, meanwhile, was born into a Jewish family and educated at the £28,000-a-year Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys School in Hertfordshire before studying history at Christ’s College, Cambridge.

He rose to fame thanks to his satirical ‘gangsta’ character Ali G, who appeared on Channel 4’s The 11 O’Clock Show in 1998.

Baron Cohen then created the Kazakh journalist character Borat, followed by another alter-ego, a flamboyant Austrian television presenter named Bruno.

When she met Fisher at a party in 2001, she said it was love at first sight. They got engaged in 2004, and in 2007 Fisher converted to Judaism to prepare for their wedding. Their eldest daughter was born that same year, and three years later the couple married in Paris.

They moved from America to Sydney in 2020, but the following year they moved to Perth on Australia’s West Coast, where their family lives, to escape Sydney’s strict Covid quarantine rules.

But the move was not permanent and Baron Cohen struggled with the marathon flight time back to London to visit his own family. They broke up at some point in 2023, but it wasn’t announced until 2024. Fisher then took the reins of her acting career again, appearing in Bridget Jones’ Mad About The Boy. A number of close female friendships keep him going, he said in an interview.

Baron Cohen, who did not give interviews as himself rather than his character for several decades, remained mostly out of sight, at least until he was last seen in Los Angeles. That’s the way he likes it.

An old friend from London compares him to ‘the genius of Peter Sellers’, a man who is complex, even tormented, and also in thrall to beautiful women.

Chat show host Stephen Colbert once offhandedly recalled his utter eccentricity by saying that he appeared at a dinner party in character as Austrian fashion journalist Bruno Gerhard. “I had dinner with him at George Clooney’s house and he showed up wearing leather socks carrying a 45-pound wheel of cheese,” Colbert said in 2019. “He needs attention, doesn’t he?” guest Helena Bonham Carter, who starred with Baron Cohen in the 2016 film Alice Through the Looking Glass, laughed. ‘He has emotional problems.’