Olivia Wilde on 'traumatising experience' of being served custody papers by Jason Sudeikis on stage
Olivia Wilde has given a rare comment on Jason Sudeikis handing her custody papers whilst on stage at CinemaCon, as well as discussing the perception that she ‘moved on too quickly’ by dating Harry Styles whilst they were separated.
Wilde and Sudeikis were together for nine years between 2011 and 2020, with both celebrities arguably becoming far more famous in the last six years than they were when they were a couple. They were engaged for seven years, but never married.
Wilde’s relationship with Harry Styles became viral news in 2021, with the pair working together on the film Don’t Worry Darling, her sophomore directorial feature.
In 2022, in the midst of presenting the film at CinemaCon, a man came up and served her legal documents whilst she was still on stage which turned out to be related to a custody dispute over the pair’s two young children.
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Speaking in a brand-new episode of Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, Wilde has said it was a ‘traumatising experience’, stating that she has received a great deal of therapy over the incident.
Wilde claims Sudeikis told her he 'did not know' that his legal representatives were planning to serve her the papers on stage
Speaking to Cooper about the incident, Wilde states that she had to remain composed in the moment but that she ‘melted’ the second she came off stage.
She said: “I will never forget I one of the most f**ked up things that I went through among so many was that I was served papers on stage.
"I'll just say that now with enough space behind it, the part that I can laugh at is that obviously it was incredibly traumatising.
"There's so many elements to that. But I get through it because weirdly as women we're taught to muscle through the most insane experiences.
“I was like ‘just finish your speech!’ Got through it, went backstage, completely like dissolved into a puddle.”
The actor said that Sudeikis had told her ‘that he did not know and I need to believe that in order to continue', adding that it ‘hurt him’.
Speaking previously about the incident in 2022 in an interview with Variety, Wilde had 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.”
Sudeikis also released a statement at the time, stating that he ‘had no prior knowledge of the time or place that the envelope would have been delivered as this would solely be up to the process service company involved and he would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner’.
The actor spoke about the response to her separation from Sudeikis and subsequent public relationship with Harry Styles
She stated that she ‘couldn’t believe this is happening’ to her before discussing the public backlash to her dating Styles shortly after she and Sudeikis split up.
Cooper asked her about headlines which accused her of ‘moving on too quickly and abandoning her family’, with Wilde saying: “There was never any public understanding, of course, because they're not a part of our private lives, but of that breakup.
“The public, once they assign this identity to you, then they just confirm it, everything's confirmation bias.”
Specifically regarding the reaction from her dating Styles, she said: “It was crazy. I don't know how much I understand it yet.
"I understand it had very little to do with me. We’ve done this to women for a long time. Why is it? I don't know. People were f**king pissed.
“I think that it also had a lot to do with the kind of parasocial relationship people have with him, which is a burden that is very weighty and not something I envy, and he carries it with grace.
“It’s wild because we had the loveliest relationship, like so, so sweet and so beautiful and like really, actually very domestic and kind and lovely.”
Topics: Harry Styles, Celebrity, TV and Film
Michael Slavin