Olivia Wilde was not happy about the events at this year’s CinemaCon convention in Las Vegas. Last April, the Booksmart director was served with custody papers during a presentation on her upcoming film Don’t Worry Darling in front of an audience of 4,100 industry professionals. The awkward exchange in the middle of her speech — where she said, “This is for me? Is this a script?†to the process server before glancing at the presumably jarring contents of the manila envelope — was the first indication of Wilde’s messy disentanglement with Ted Lasso’s Jason Sudeikis. She addressed the event for the first time in court documents obtained by the Daily Mail, and excerpts indicate a tough custody battle is brewing. “Jason’s actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard. He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible,†she said in the documents. “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.†The ex-couple are currently arguing over whether or not their children will reside in Los Angeles (and then London in late 2023) or Brooklyn, with Wilde preferring the former agreement.
According to court documents obtained by People on August 10, a judge sided with Wilde last month, thereby dismissing the petition filed by Sudeikis to keep the children in Brooklyn, where they were born and had previously lived. “Both Judge Powell and this Referee agreed that New York was not the home state of the subject children; but rather California was the children’s home state,†the documents said. “This court finds that New York does not have jurisdiction to hear the custody petitions as New York is not the home state of the subject children.†As of now, at least, the children will remain in California, per the judge’s ruling.
Sudeikis maintains that he did not intend for Wilde to be served in such a public manner, which Wilde described as an “outrageous legal tactic.†In his statement to the court, the actor said that he planned to serve the documents in less conspicuous locales, specifically away from where the children and Wilde live in London with her BF Harry Styles. After Wilde was unable to be served outside her hotel in Las Vegas during CinemaCon, the server “noticed Olivia at the Warner Brothers Panel and proceeded to serve the Summons and Petition upon Olivia.†Sudeikis was “deeply upset†and felt “great distress†at the turn of events. “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,†he said in the filing. A messy move for king of kindness Ted Lasso.