Olivia Wilde has responded to criticisms that claim she “abandoned” her two children.
Thursday the Don’t worry honey the director posed for by Elle Cover story from November 2022, which opened on motherhood in the spotlight. Wilde, who shares eight-year-old son Otis and six-year-old daughter Daisy with ex Jason Sudeikis, acknowledged that people take the worst for granted when she isn’t photographed with her children.
“I share custody of my children with my ex,” she told the outlet. “If I don’t get photographed with my kids, people assume I’ve abandoned them, like my kids are just somewhere in a hot car without me. The suggestion is that I have given up my role as a mother ”.
However, according to Wilde, the reason people don’t see single mom with her kids is because she prefers to keep them out of the public eye. “Do you know why you don’t see me with my children? Why don’t I have them photographed. Do you know how far I am going to protect my children from being seen by you? she said.
The 38-year-old actor, who is currently in a relationship with co-star Harry Styles, has previously spoken out against the shameful assumptions people have made and the double standards he faces as a single mother. “When people see me not with my kids, it’s always ‘How dare she,'” Wilde said Variety in August. “I’ve never seen anyone say that about a guy. And if he’s his son with him, he’s a fucking hero.
The Bone alum continued to call Otis and Daisy her “world” and her “best friends” and revealed that she recently took a break from work to be more present with her children. “It became clear to me that this year was the time for me to be a stay-at-home mom,” Wilde said. “It wasn’t the year for me to be on a set, which is totally all-encompassing. It was time for me to stop and dedicate myself to the children when I have them. “
Wilde and Sudeikis, who got engaged in 2013, ended their relationship in November 2020. In April, the ex-couple’s custody battle took a turn when Wilde was handed custody papers from her ex. engaged while on stage at CinemaCon. At the time, Sudeikis said she was unaware that she would be served during her presentation, saying she was “deeply shocked” by the events and felt “great distress over the way the service was rendered” .
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While talking with VarietyWilde said it was “deeply painful” that the two children she shares with Sudeikis were involved in a public matter that should have been kept private. “The only people who suffered were my children, because they will have to see it and they should never know it happened,” she explained. “For me it was scary, but the victims were eight and five year olds, and it’s really sad.”
“I chose to become an actress,” she added. “I gladly went into the spotlight. But that’s not something my kids have asked for. And when my children are pulled in, it is deeply painful. “
Now, the former couple needs to “remodel” their family as they continue to co-parent their two children in Los Angeles, New York and London, where Sudeikis shoots his show, Ted Lasso. During an appearance on Kelly Clarkson’s show in September, Wilde described co-parenting with Sudeikis as “complicated”; though, she said she is grateful that “deep conversations” are allowed with her children about emotions, family and love.
“My priority is them,” he told Clarkson. “That’s what it is. As long as they are happy and healthy then my ex and I agree on this. They are everything to us ”.
In August, Sudeikis’ custody request against Wilde was denied when a judge denied the actor’s petition for their children to live with him in New York, stating that their home state is California.