Rachel Bilson Says She & Rami Malek Are 'All Good' Now After School Photo Drama: 'He Was So Gracious'

There's no bad blood between Rachel Bilson and Rami Malek!

The O.C. actress, 39, said on Tuesday that she and the Bohemian Rhapsody actor, 39, had patched things up after she previously revealed that Malek had asked her to delete an old photo of the two from high school she had posted on Instagram.

"Rami and I actually have talked since that came out. He connected with me, and we're all good," she said during an episode of the LadyGang podcast. "He was so sweet and we're totally fine now and we talked about it and we're good."

She added, "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."

Bilson also said she didn't realize that the story would gain so much attention after she mentioned it on an episode of Dax Shepard and Monica Padman's Armchair Expert podcast last month.

"My friend sent me a CNN link to it. I was like, 'Are you kidding me?'" she told the LadyGang hosts Keltie Knight, Becca Tobin and Jac Vanek.

Bilson admitted that the situation had caused quite a bit of anxiety, which she sought professional help for.

"I was so mortified though. Like, I was having a panic attack," she said. "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.'"

She concluded that, while she was embarrassed in the moment, she was happy the incident could allow the pair to reconnect.

"It actually turned out to be a good thing for a reason, because we were able to reconnect and, like, make it better and everything is great," she said.

A representative for Malek did not immediately respond to PEOPLE's request for comment.

Back in 2019, Bilson shared a throwback snap of herself and Malek as teenagers in New York City.

"Hey @ramimalek where'd you get that gold chain?" she captioned the post at the time, poking fun of the star and his past '90s fashion look.

Bilson also added the hashtags "#tbt" "#oscarworthy" and "#dontforgetthelittlepeople" to her post as well.

During her conversation on Armchair Expert, Bilson noted that she and Malek both attended Notre Dame High School in Sherman Oaks, California, and explained that the pair had a past friendship.

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"Rami was a good friend of mine. We were [in] the same crew," she said on Armchair Expert. "We did The Crucible together senior year, we were the leads in it together — all these things. We kind of kept in contact a little bit."

So when Malek began to gain recognition during the 2019 awards season for his role as Freddie Mercury in Bohemian Rhapsody, Bilson thought it would be fun to share the throwback photo on social media.

"So obviously, he gets super famous and he's always been extremely talented, a really amazing actor, even in high school," she explained. "I had posted a throwback of us from our senior trip to New York, Broadway. We're super nerdy, [it was] 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."

But after sharing the photo, Bilson said that Malek reached out to her directly in regards to the snap she shared.

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"I don't usually check my DMs on my Instagram and maybe a week goes by and I actually look and I have a message from Rami," the Hart of Dixie star said. "But 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.'"

The response, Bilson said, caught her off guard and caused her to panic.

"I was like, 'Oh, s---! OK.' I get really hot and start sweating," she said. "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."

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"I'm friends with his stylist and she was like, 'Well it's not a great picture of him,'" Bilson continued, before she shared another interaction she had with The O.C. creator about the photo. "It was right before the Oscars and I remember 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," the actress added. "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 heard anything back, which is fine. But I was super bummed because he was always so nice and we were good friends."