Olivia Wilde Breaks Silence On Claims That She ‘Abandoned’ Her Kids After Her Jason Sudeikis Split

This post has been updated since its initial 09/24/22 publish date to include more info re: Olivia Wilde’s split with Jason Sudeikis and what she has said about their co-parenting in her latest interview. 

Olivia Wilde is speaking out against internet trolls who accused her of being a “bad mom” and “abandoning” her children with ex Jason Sudeikis in her new November Elle Magazine cover story. “I share custody of my kids with my ex. People assume I have abandoned my kids, like my kids are just somewhere in a hot car without me,” the Booksmart director, 38, told the magazine. “The suggestion is that I have abandoned my role as a mother.” Wilde shares two children— son Otis, 8, and daughter Daisy, 5, with Sudeikis, 47, who she was in a relationship with from 2011 to 2020.

Wilde explained to online critics that she is not often “photographed” with her children on purpose, for their safety. “Do you know the lengths that I go to protect my kids from being seen by you?” she said. The Her actress previously called out classic double standards about parenting in an August interview with Variety. “The last two years, my family has gone through this kind of restructuring and a revolution that should be a totally personal experience,” she shared. “And it’s not. The most painful element of it has been women shaming me for making a decision that was for my own health and happiness.”

Last month, Wilde discussed how she balanced her career and promoting her directorial efforts on the Don’t Worry Darling press trail with her personal life and being a mom. She also noted that (at the time) she was finding co-parenting— since she and Sudeikis went their separate ways two years ago— somewhat “tricky.” In a very candid interview on The Kelly Clarkson Show, Wilde told the “Since U Been Gone” singer that “reshaping a family” has been “tricky” for her, but it has ultimately brought her and her two children even closer together.