Olivia Wilde is leaning into provocative film roles as she navigates a turbulent stretch in her personal life, with a source telling the Daily Mail that the 42-year-old actress and director is driven by a desire to reclaim her sexuality and self-worth.
Wilde’s latest film, The Invite, which she directed and stars in, follows the unraveling of a relationship during a night in which her character and her husband, played by Seth Rogen, explore swinging with their neighbors, played by Penelope Cruz and Edward Norton. The film opened in late June to a 97 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Later this month, she stars as a dominatrix in I Want Your Sex, directed by Gregg Araki, which had its Los Angeles premiere this week.
The source said Wilde has wanted to explore sensual roles for some time. Losing her relationships with Jason Sudeikis and Harry Styles was very rough for her, and reclaiming her sexuality and self-worth has been important, the source said. Playing these characters on film has been therapeutic.
A Bruising Few Years
Wilde separated from Sudeikis, 50, early in the pandemic after almost a decade together. The pair were engaged but never married and have two children: son Otis, 12, and daughter Daisy, 9. Their separation turned acrimonious over a custody dispute, with Sudeikis wanting the children raised in New York and Wilde preferring Los Angeles.
The conflict reached a public low point in April 2022 when a court official served Wilde with legal papers while she was on stage in Las Vegas promoting her film Don’t Worry Darling. Wilde jokingly asked the process server whether the brown envelope was a script, then carried on with her presentation before dissolving backstage.
This week, appearing on Alex Cooper’s podcast Call Her Daddy, Wilde recalled the incident as incredibly traumatizing. She said that as women they are taught to muscle through the most insane experiences, so she told herself to just finish the speech. She said she went backstage and completely dissolved, assumed no one had seen it because phones were not allowed, and then discovered it was already on Page Six. She added that months later she met Tom Cruise, who acknowledged that what happened to her in Vegas was messed up.
The Don’t Worry Darling press tour brought further turbulence. Wilde faced repeated questions about the replacement of Shia LaBeouf in the male lead role, which ultimately went to Harry Styles, 32. Wilde said LaBeouf’s combative approach did not suit her and made her leading lady, Florence Pugh, uncomfortable. LaBeouf disputed this account, saying he quit due to insufficient rehearsals, and released messages in which Wilde referred to the situation as a potential wake-up call for Pugh.
Pugh made little effort to hide her displeasure, skipping a Venice Film Festival press conference for the film and posing separately from Wilde at a New York City premiere. Wilde continued praising Pugh’s work and sought to downplay reports of a rift.
By November 2022, Wilde’s relationship with Styles had also ended.
Picking Up the Pieces
Wilde told The Cut last month that she did not think a person knew what they were made of until they fell apart. She said she took time to read and journal, drove to Big Sur, climbed mountains in Bhutan, and explored Ireland and Hawaii. She told the magazine she advises her female friends to take solo road trips, saying you meet strangers and introduce yourself as who you are.
Since September, Wilde has been in a relationship with art world figure Caspar Jopling, 34, the former husband of singer Ellie Goulding. She told The Cut she is in a really lovely relationship, that she adores him, and that she feels completely whole and intact as a person.
In May, a photograph of Wilde looking noticeably thin circulated online and became an internet meme, with some drawing comparisons to a Lord of the Rings character. The image appeared around the same time reports emerged that Styles, now in a relationship with Zoe Kravitz, 37, had apparently proposed to Kravitz. Wilde laughed off the speculation. Her brother Charlie posted a joking question in an Instagram story she shared asking whether she was a resurrected corpse, to which a laughing Wilde replied that she was not dead.
The source said Wilde’s embrace of challenging roles is about making her feel sexier and that she still has it, adding that if it works on film, it can work in real life. Looking ahead, the source said Wilde is looking to push the envelope even further and take on more sexualized roles, saying the parts have given her a new lease on life. The Daily Mail said it reached out to Wilde’s representatives for comment.
