Back in April, Olivia Wilde was served with court papers while on stage discussing her new latest film project at Las Vegas’ CinemaCon.
The documents related to Wilde’s ongoing custody dispute with former fiancé Jason Sudeikis, who is the father of her two children.
Sudeikis insists that he played no part in the humiliating incident.
The Ted Lasso star claims it was his lawyer’s idea to serve Wilde in such a public fashion.
But Wilde and many others don’t believe Sudeikis’ version of events.
Whatever the case, the incident highlighted what might be the two most difficult aspects of Wilde’s life these days:
For one thing, her separation from Sudeikis has clearly been more contentious than either star previously let on.
On top of that, Wilde has often been treated unfairly in media coverage of her personal life.
Sudeikis’ work has made him a beloved international figure internationally, and while Wilde is equally successful, she criticized much more frequently.
Wilde is currently dating Harry Styles, and the tabloid press loves to obsess over their age difference (Wilde is 38; Styles 28).
Wilde addressed these topics and more in a revealing new interview with Variety.
“The most painful element of it has been women shaming me for making a decision that was for my own health and happiness,” the actress/director said of her recent woes.
“When she and Styles are photographed together, she’s judged for dating a younger man; just as often, she’s labeled an absentee mother,” Variety noted.
“When people see me not with my kids, it’s always ‘How dare she,’” Wilde complained of that double standard.
“I’ve never seen anyone say that about a guy. And if he is with his kid, he’s a f-cking hero.
That may have been a dig at Sudeikis, or it might have just been Olivia venting about some seriously unfair press coverage.
Whatever the case, it’s clear that she’s still furious about the stunt her ex pulled at CinemaCon.
In court filings of her own, Wilde accused Sudeikis of executing “an attack on her workplace.”
Sudeikis claims that his lawyers were merely attempting to serve her with papers at a time when they knew her kids would not be present to witness it.
Olivia was awarded a legal win earlier this month, when the judge in her case decided that the custody battle must be decided in the children’s home state of California.
Sudeikis had previously requested a change of venue, seemingly due to the fact that he spends much of his London, because of his role on the popular AppleTV+ sitcom Ted Lasso.
Clearly, these two have a long way to go in terms of hammering some sort of civil co-parenting relationship.
But hopefully we won’t be seeing any more public stunts on par with what happened in Vegas.