Olivia Wilde says her split from Jason Sudeikis was the hardest decision she has ever made, but she is proud of how they raise their children now.
The actress and director, 42, spoke of it during the Saturday episode of The Interview, The New York Times’ podcast. She said they have “reached this healthy equilibrium.”
She also pointed that anyone who says co-parenting is easy is not being honest.
“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 continued.
However, Wilde said she is glad her children are growing up with “a real sense of authenticity” in how everyone feels as trying to hide conflict from kids does not work.
“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,” Wilde explained. “When you’re trying to hide [interpersonal conflict] from your kids, they sense it. They’re the most intuitive people in the house.”
She called the decision to split “by far the most difficult, painful decision I’ve ever made.” She said it felt like a failure when a relationship ends, especially with the person you have children with.
“[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 continued.
Wilde and Sudeikis, 51, have a son, Otis, 12, and a daughter, Daisy, 10. They met at a Saturday Night Live finale party in May 2011 and got engaged in 2013. They ended their engagement in 2020. They reached a joint custody agreement in September 2023.
Wilde has spoken about this before. On the Call Her Daddy podcast in June, she said the kids now get “the best” of both parents.
She said the arrangement lets her be fully present with them and then hand them off to a capable co-parent. She said that when they were together, this was not possible.
