Olivia Wilde Says Being Served Custody Papers On Stage Was 'Vicious'

Olivia Wilde has spoken publicly for the first time about the serving of custody papers during a CinemaCon presentation, calling the public ambush by a process server “deeply painful”.

Wilde was handed the documents in a brown envelope while talking about her new thriller Don't Worry Darling at CinemaCon in Las Vegas in April. It contained legal papers pertaining to her custody dispute with former partner Jason Sudeikis. Wilde and the Ted Lasso actor, who dated from 2011 to 2020 and were once engaged, have two young children, eight and five.

Olivia Wilde on public serving of custody papers

"In any other workplace, it would be seen as an attack," she told Variety.

"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."

Footage showed Wilde surprised after opening the envelope, but she got right back to business.

"I hated that this nastiness distracted from the work of so many different people and the studio that I was up there representing," the actor  added. "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."

Representatives for Sudeikis previously confirmed that the actor had no prior knowledge of how they would be delivered. "He would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner,” the spokesperson told Deadline.

Wilde confirmed she was dating singer Harry Styles, 28, in December, after having cast him as Jack in her new film opposite Florence Pugh. Don’t Worry Darling, a 50s-set thriller which also stars Wilde, is set to premiere at this year’s Venice film festival.

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