Olivia Wilde Breaks Silence on ‘Upsetting’ CinemaCon Custody Incident

Actress and director Olivia Wilde is discussing her custody battle with ex Jason Sudeikis.

In April, Wilde was served custody papers while she was onstage presenting her movie “Don’t Worry Darling” at CinemaCon.

Olivia is now reflecting on the “upsetting” incident, telling Variety, “It was my workplace. 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. 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.”

Despite what she saw in the manila envelope, Wilde kept a poker face onstage.

She said, “I hated that this nastiness distracted from the work of so many different people and the studio that I was up there representing. To try to sabotage that was really vicious. But I had a job to do; I’m not easily distracted.”

Wilde wasn’t all too surprised by what had gone down onstage, saying, “But, you know, sadly, it was not something that was entirely surprising to me. I mean, there’s a reason I left that relationship.”

Olivia and Jason called it quits in 2020 after nine years together.

They have two kids, Otis and Daisy, who she calls “my best friends.”

According to Wilde, their kids are the ones who suffered after she was served custody papers in such a public way. She explained, “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. For me, it was appalling, but the victims were an 8-­ and 5-year-­old, and that’s really sad. 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.”

Wilde also opened up about how the media frenzy surrounding her life has affected her. She admitted, “The last two years, my family has gone through this kind of restructuring and a revolution that should be a totally personal experience. And it’s not. The most painful element of it has been women shaming me for making a decision that was for my own health and happiness.”

Wilde is now dating Harry Styles, but she declined to discuss their relationship. She noted, “I’m not going to say anything about it because I’ve never seen a relationship benefit from being dragged into the public arena. 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.”

Olivia has faced some criticism for dating after her breakup with Jason. Noting the double standard, she said, “When people see me not with my kids, it’s always ‘How dare she?’ I’ve never seen anyone say that about a guy. And if he is with his kid, he’s a f**king hero.”

Despite what she’s dealing with personally, Olivia isn’t letting it affect her work.

Wilde’s movie “Don’t Worry Darling” has created quite a stir. In the trailer, there is a racy sex scene between Harry and his co-star Florence Pugh. She noted, “Female pleasure, the best versions of it that you see nowadays, are in queer films. Why are we more comfortable with female pleasure when it’s two women on film? In hetero sex scenes in film, the focus on men as the recipients of pleasure is almost ubiquitous.”