This post has been updated since its initial 08/11/2022 publish date to include new information from Olivia Wilde’s latest interview with Variety.
Olivia Wilde is opening up more about her tumultuous split from ex Jason Sudeikis in a new profile for Variety. The Booksmart director, 38, seemed to hint that the viral April incident (in which she was served with custody papers while giving a speech onstage at CinemaCon in Las Vegas) is a prime example of why she “left” the relationship.
“It was my workplace,” Wilde said without directly naming Sudeikis, “In any other workplace, it would be seen as an attack. It was really upsetting. It shouldn’t have been able to happen. There was a huge breach in security, which is really scary.” She continued, deeming the moment a frightening and stressful one, “The hurdles that you had to jump through to get into that room with several badges, plus special COVID tests that had to be taken days in advance, which gave you wristbands that were necessary to gain access to the event — this was something that required forethought.”
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Wilde also spoke about the impact the mid-speech interaction had on her career and current projects, “I hated that this nastiness distracted from the work of so many different people and the studio that I was up there representing,” she said, “To try to sabotage that was really vicious. But I had a job to do; I’m not easily distracted, but, you know, sadly, it was not something that was entirely surprising to me. I mean, there’s a reason I left that relationship.”
The Tron: Legacy actress shares one daughter Daisy, 8, and son Otis, 5, with Sudeikis. She said that even during the jarring incident, she thought more about her kids and how it would affect them. “The only people who suffered were my kids, because they’ll have to see that, and they shouldn’t ever have to know that happened,” she explained.
“For me, it was appalling, but the victims were an 8 and 5-year-old, and that’s really sad.” Wilde then confessed, “I chose to become an actress; I willingly walked into the spotlight. But it’s not something my children have asked for. And when my kids are dragged into it, it’s deeply painful.”
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As reported earlier this month by multiple outlets, a judge granted Wilde her request to dismiss Sudeikis’ custody petition. According to court docs obtained by People Magazine, a judge sided with Wilde in July, and this granted her motion to dismiss the custody petition filed by Sudeikis in October of last year.
In Sudeikis’ petition, the Ted Lasso star allegedly indicated that he wanted the former couple to parent their kids in New York City. This is where the family previously lived and where their children were born, according to court records obtained by The Daily Mail.
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The documents stated, “Both Judge Powell and this Referee agreed that New York was not the home state of the subject children; but rather California was the children’s home state […] This court finds that New York does not have jurisdiction to hear the custody petitions as New York is not the home state of the subject children,” they added. As a result, the two children will remain in California.
Additionally, Wilde allegedly accused Sudeikis of “embarrass(ing) me professionally” in the court docs when she was infamously served custody papers during her presentation at CinemaCon. “Jason’s actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard. He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible,” the Don’t Worry Darling director reportedly added in her court filing, per the Mail.
“The fact that Jason would embarrass me professionally and put our personal conflict on public display in this manner is extremely contrary to our children’s best interests,” she went on.”Since Jason has made it clear that we will not be able to work this out for our children’s sake outside of the court system, I filed a petition for custody in Los Angeles.”
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According to the British publication, Sudeikis explained in his own filing that his intention was not for Wilde to receive the papers onstage at CinemaCon. Instead, he requested (and his team allegedly went against his wishes) that they be served at Heathrow Airport. He reportedly had plans to serve them at the hotel Wilde was staying at for CinemaCon.
“I understand that the process server had only done her job; however, I deeply regret what happened,” said the We’re the Millers actor. “Olivia’s talk was an important event for Olivia, both professionally and personally, and I am very, very sorry that the incident marred her special moment.”
Sudeikis also mentioned that he did not want to involve Harry Styles, 28, who is currently dating Wilde, “I did not want service to take place at the home of Olivia’s current partner because Otis and Daisy might be present. I did not want service to take place at the children’s school because parents might be present,” Sudeikis also wrote, according to DM.
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Styles and Wilde have been dating since meeting on the set of the upcoming drama film, Don’t Worry Darling. Styles, the leading man in the flick, reportedly felt “instantaneous chemistry” with director Wilde on-set, and the two began dating two months after she split from her partner of 9 years, Sudeikis.
In her latest Variety interview, Wilde also spoke about protecting her relationship with Styles, and discussed how serious the two are about maintaining their privacy, “I’m not going to say anything about it because I’ve never seen a relationship benefit from being dragged into the public arena,” she said, “We both go out of our way to protect our relationship; I think it’s out of experience, but also just out of deep love.”
According to Page Six, Florence Pugh, the leading actress of Don’t Worry Darling, allegedly felt uncomfortable on set with Wilde and Styles. The Oscar nominee, 26, apparently knew Wilde was still with Sudeikis when she started “hooking up” with Styles, an anonymous source told the publication. “I can tell you for a fact that Flo seeing Olivia and Harry all over each other on set did not go down well as Olivia was still with Jason when she first hooked up with Harry,” the source allegedly said.
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Rumors of Wilde and Styles beginning their relationship as an affair while Wilde was still with Sudeikis are nothing new. The source reportedly added, “Jason and the kids visited Olivia on set at the beginning a few times, so I think this all made people feel a little uncomfortable.”
On Twitter, many fans pointed out that Wilde has recently posted online tributes to Pugh and her work in the new film, but the Little Women star has not promoted the upcoming movie as much as her other projects. This, many fans think, is the sign of a feud or falling out between the two that “Wilde is trying to keep secret,” as one wrote. Pugh has indeed shared a trailer for the film with her 7.8 million Instagram followers, but rumors of her and Wilde not getting along are still alive and well on social media.
