UPDATE August 11: After court documents were obtained this week claiming Jason Sudeikis attempted to embarrass and “threaten” Olivia Wilde with custody papers at CinemaCon, the actor’s custody petition has been dismissed. Sudeikis wanted to have his children reside in Brooklyn while Wilde lives and works from Los Angeles. Page Six confirmed the ruling on Wednesday with a legal filing which read: “Judge Powell and this Referee agreed that New York was not the home state of the subject children; but rather California was the children’s home state.”
In April, Olivia Wilde unknowingly opened documents brought to her on stage during a live event at CinemaCon 2022 that turned out to be legal papers concerning child custody served to her by her ex-partner Jason Sudeikis, not only the 4,000 people seated in front of her, but the entire world saw her embarrassment firsthand.
In the photos and videos shared in headlines globally, the actress-turned-director held herself together brilliantly and continued on after a brief pause. Following the incident, many were led to assume Sudeikis had no part to play in how publicly the situation went down.
However, in new court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, Wilde says she believes Sudeikis knew exactly what was happening and, furthermore, was trying to aggressively embarrass and “threaten” her by using “outrageous legal tactics.”
“Jason’s actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard,” Wilde allegedly said, adding, “He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible.”
Wilde added the way Sudeikis went about things weren’t fair to the pair’s two young children, Otis, 8, and Daisy, 5, and therefore she’s filing a petition for their custody in Los Angeles. “The fact that Jason would embarrass me professionally and put our personal conflict on public display in this manner is extremely contrary to our children’s best interests,” Wilde said. “Since Jason has made it clear that we will not be able to work this out for our children’s sake outside of the court system, I filed a petition for custody in Los Angeles.”
Back in April when the documents were first served to Wilde on stage, Page Six reported she was “mortified” and “confused” at the situation. “Olivia was confused when she was handed the envelope, and she was even more confused when she opened it,” the source said, adding, “It seemed unthinkable to her, and it took a moment to set in, but as mortifying as it was, she did not want to give a reaction.”
A source close to Sudeikis, however, told the outlet the actor “had no prior knowledge of the time or place that the envelope would have been delivered … and he would never condone [Wilde] being served in such an inappropriate manner.”
Sudeikis and Wilde broke up in 2020 with Wilde beginning to date musician Harry Styles shortly thereafter. Page Six alleges Sudeikis decided to battle over custody when they couldn’t agree on a permanent city to raise their children.
