Olivia Wilde opens up about co-parenting with Jason Sudeikis, says 'it's hard' despite healthy balance
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Olivia Wilde has offered a rare glimpse into her family life with ex Jason Sudeikis, sharing how they manage raising their two children after their breakup.
Although the former couple have found a way to maintain a healthy balance, Wilde made it clear that co-parenting still comes with its share of challenges. In a new interview, she spoke about their efforts to make things work for their children.
Olivia Wilde gets candid about co-parenting with Jason Sudeikis: "It’s so hard"
Wilde, after so long, shared her thoughts regarding co-parenting. “I really take pride in how good we are at co-parenting our kids in my family. We have reached this healthy equilibrium. It’s so hard,” Wilde, 42, told The New York Times.
She also pushed back against the idea that separating amicably makes co-parenting simple. “Anyone who pretends it's easy like, 'Oh, you just consciously uncouple, and then you find a way' - that's BS,” she said.
Wilde added that she feels relieved their children can grow up in a home 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 explained.
“It feels like a failure when you can’t make a relationship work, particularly if it’s with the person you have children with,” Wilde said. “…That 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.”
Olivia Wilde reveals the hardest decision of her life was ending a relationship when her children were involved, admitting it brought deep pain and shame "I mean it feels like a failure when you can't uh make a relationship work. Particularly if it's with the person you have children with." "You know, I think we talk about a lot of different things in the film that are kind of uh you know, racy in different ways. The most subversive part of the movie is a moment where Penelope's character says, you think you're doing something noble by staying together for your children, as if they don't notice, as if they don't feel this anxiety that they're marinating in." "And I think that uh it is by far the most difficult, painful decision I've ever made in my life uh to understand that it was not better for my kids to live in a house where their parents were not aligned."
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The actress and director said children often notice tension even when adults try to keep it from them. “When you’re trying to hide it from your kids, they sense it. They’re the most intuitive people in the house,” she said.
Wilde shares son Otis, 12, and daughter Daisy, 10, with Sudeikis, 51. The former couple began dating in 2011 and got engaged in 2013 before ending their relationship in 2020.
Wilde has spoken before about how difficult the split was. She felt it was better for their children to have parents who were no longer together than to grow up in an unhappy home.
Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis ended their engagement in 2020
Wilde and Sudeikis began dating in 2011 and got engaged two years later, but never made it down the aisle. They welcomed their son, Otis, in 2014 and daughter, Daisy, in 2016.
After nearly nine years together, they called off their engagement in 2020. Since their split, the former couple have worked out their co-parenting arrangement and reached a custody agreement in 2023.
In 2023, the former couple settled their bitter custody dispute, with the Ted Lasso star agreeing to pay Wilde $27,500 a month in child support.
