‘It feels like a failure’: Olivia Wilde reveals why splitting from Jason Sudeikis was the most ‘painful’ decision of her life after 10 years together

Actor and filmmaker Olivia Wilde has opened up about her co-parenting relationship with former fiancé Jason Sudeikis after their 2020 split. The Tron actress, said she takes “pride” in how she and Sudeikis have managed to raise their two children together, with the difficulties that came with ending their nearly decade-long relationship.

“I really take pride in how good we are at co-parenting our kids in my family,” Wilde said. “We have reached this healthy equilibrium.”

The 42-year-old actor spoke about her relationship with Ted Lasso star Sudeikis during an appearance on The Interview, a podcast by The New York Times, released on November 14.


Wilde, who shares son Otis, 12, and daughter Daisy, 10, with the 51-year-old, also acknowledged that reaching this point was not easy, and those pretending it is lying. “It’s so hard. Anyone who pretends it’s easy - like, ‘Oh, you just consciously uncouple, and then you find a way’ - that’s BS,” she said as quoted by People magazine from the podcast.

However, Wilde said she feels glad that their children can grow up in an environment where their parents are honest about their feelings.

“I feel relieved that I’m able to give them a life with parents where there’s a real sense of authenticity in terms of how everyone’s feeling and doing,” she said. “When you’re trying to hide [interpersonal conflict] from your kids, they sense it. They’re the most intuitive people in the house.”

Olivia Wilde on her split from Jason Sudeikis

Wilde and Sudeikis first met at a Saturday Night Live finale party in May 2011 and began dating later that year. The couple got engaged in 2013 but called it off in 2020. They reached a joint custody agreement in September 2023, as per People Magazine.

Wilde also shed light on how difficult it was to end the relationship, especially because they had children together.

“It feels like a failure when you can’t make a relationship work, particularly if it’s with the person you have children with,” she said in the NYT podcast.

“[Splitting up] is by far the most difficult, painful decision I’ve ever made in my life — to understand that it was not better for my kids to live in a house where their parents were not aligned,” Wilde said.

The actor added that her experience over the past several years had taught her to accept that people and relationships change. “We can’t deny we are changing. You are changing, so it’s not a decision to change. It’s a decision to acknowledge the change,” she said.