Olivia Wilde believes ex-partner Jason Sudeikis was trying to aggressively embarrass and “threaten” her when she was publicly served legal papers during a panel in April.
Wilde claims that Sudeikis used “outrageous legal tactics,” according to new court documents obtained by the Daily Mail on Wednesday.
“Jason’s actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard,” Wilde, 38, alleged in the filing. “He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible.”
The “Booksmart” director further claimed that Sudeikis, 46, was intentionally trying to air their personal matters to the public in a way that isn’t fair to their two children: Otis, 8, and Daisy, 5.
“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 argued. “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.”
The “Ted Lasso” star notably served Wilde legal documents concerning child custody while she was on stage in front of nearly 4,000 people at CinemaCon.
Page Six reported at the time that Wilde was mortified and confused.
“Olivia was confused when she was handed the envelope, and she was even more confused when she opened it,” the source told us, 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.”
However, a source close to Sudeikis had insisted to Page Six exclusively that he “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 had been co-parenting their kids since calling off their engagement and breaking up in 2020, but the actor decided to battle over custody when the duo couldn’t agree on a permanent city to raise their children.
In court docs, Wilde alleges that the duo agreed to send their children to school in LA for the upcoming year as Sudeikis was set to film the final season of “Ted Lasso” in London.
“Recently, however, Jason decided that he wanted to go to New York for the next year while he is not working, and wanted the children to be with him there during this time off,” the actress claimed. “When I did not agree, since the children have not lived in New York for several years, Jason filed these papers.”
Sudeikis fired back in a declaration to the court, saying that their Brooklyn home has always been the family’s permanent residence and that Wilde is trying to pull a fast one by insisting their kids live in LA.
“For better or worse, I am a New Yorker,” Sudeikis said in the filing, adding that it was best for their kids to grow up in Brooklyn.
He added that he was reluctant to pursue legal action against Wilde but that he was worried she would take their kids away from him after she allegedly told him she would only let him see their kids on weekends and vacations if he didn’t permanently live in LA and that she also allegedly had plans to relocate to London, where her boyfriend, Harry Styles, lives.
Sudeikis further asserted that the legal documents were supposed to be served to Wilde at an airport or at her hotel. But after several failed attempts, she was located at the event thanks to a tweet where the process server handed her the confidential envelope.
“I understand that the process server had only done her job; however, I deeply regret what happened. Olivia’s talk was an important event for Olivia, both professionally and personally, and I am very, very sorry that the incident marred her special moment,” Sudeikis said.
Wilde has been dating Styles since January 2021. Meanwhile, Sudeikis has been romantically linked to model Keeley Hazell.
