In April 2022, actress and filmmaker Olive Wilde was served with custody papers in front of a stunned audience while promoting an upcoming movie at CinemaCon. The documents were filed by her ex-fiancé, Jason Sudeikis. Wilde has finally opened up about the incident, which she compared to a workplace ambush, in a new interview with Variety.
Wilde and Sudeikis were together from 2011 until 2020. They have two children, five-year-old Daisy, and eight-year-old Otis. A source told the media that Sudeikis did not know when or where the papers would be delivered. This was apparently the sole decision of the processing company, as the source continued that Sudeikis would never intentionally have the envelope served in this “inappropriate manner.”
Wilde called the incident “upsetting” and something that the event security should not have allowed to happen. She likened the experience to an attack in the workplace as she was at an industry event to promote her film Don’t Worry Darling. Citing that badges, wristbands, and COVID tests were necessary to be obtained days before CinemaCon, Wilds stated the delivery timing as having “required forethought.”
Feeling the incident was a ploy to detract from her work as an actor and director, Wilde offered a glimpse of the estranged couple behind the scenes. She candidly stated her upset at the “nastiness” of the jarring event and commented that it “distracted from the work” of her colleagues and the studio she was representing at CinemaCon.
Calling the delivery of the papers a sabotage attempt, Wilde added that the timing was not “entirely surprising” and admitted, “there’s a reason I left that relationship.” Wilde and Sudeikis have agreed on shared custody of their children, but she feels they were the ultimate victims as this incident put her kids in the public eye.
Olivia Wilde openly admitted that she chose to be an actress and stand in the spotlight. Reflecting on the jarring events at CinemaCon, she stated that her children did not ask for this lifestyle. They were unwittingly thrust into the limelight when Wilde was very publicly served the papers, an aftereffect she calls “deeply painful.”