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Olivia Wilde’s revenge: How she got people to stop talking about everything but her work
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An actress turned director, outspoken feminist and central character in one of the entertainment industry's most talked-about sagas, the 42-year-old filmmaker has gone from being the young doctor on 'House' to embodying the contradictions of an industry that applauds women for breaking the rules, but does not always forgive them for doing so on their own terms.
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The two have displayed their easy rapport throughout recent promotional appearances, with Wilde at one point describing her co-star as “the sexiest woman alive.” In one scene, Cruz unexpectedly kisses Wilde. The filmmaker has admitted that she completely lost her composure, her mind went blank and she fell hopelessly in love with her co-star.
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“As a director, I now am constantly searching for actresses who can still move their faces. And it’s not easy!” she said. “I don’t blame them. I’m a product of the same machine, I’m under the same pressures; I get it.”
“I just pray for technology to allow treatments that just aren’t so aggressive. Like, there’s something so medieval about all these things. Can’t someone come up with something better than Botox?” she continued.
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In 2026, photos of the actress became fodder for mockery on social media, particularly because of her extreme thinness. Wilde herself responded with humor, acknowledging that in those viral images she really did look “like a little dead sarcophagus man.”
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The couple’s 10-year age gap, the singer’s global fame and Wilde’s recent separation turned the relationship into a media phenomenon. The spiral soon became impossible to stop: Shia LaBeouf’s departure from the project, rumors that the film’s lead actress, Florence Pugh, had a strained relationship with Wilde and was unhappy with the displays of affection between the director and Styles during filming, and the supposedly viral incident in which Styles appeared to spit on Chris Pine at the Venice Film Festival.
Wilde has since acknowledged that she perhaps should have pushed back against some of the allegations. At the same time, she has recalled that she was experiencing moments of great happiness in her private life.
“ It was like a tornado was right outside the door, and if you were inside you were like, ‘It’s so nice,’” she said. “And you open the door and be like, ‘Ah,’ like a fucking like cow and a tractor would fly by.”
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Her mother worked as a war correspondent and went on to become a renowned investigative journalist before taking her career in a different direction. In 2018, at the age of 66, she ran as a Democratic candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives, with her daughter’s public support. She lost to the Republican candidate, but her trajectory left Wilde with a powerful example of political engagement and reinvention.
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Joining the show's fourth season turned her into an international star and one of Hollywood’s most sought-after actresses. After starring in big-budget films such as 'Tron: Legacy' and 'Cowboys & Aliens,' both of which met with limited critical and commercial success, Wilde later said she felt exploited and objectified by the film industry.
“I had become numb to the fact that every meeting I went on — with men and women, by the way — I was going to be judged on my physical appearance,” she said.
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“This business belongs to all of us,” she said that year, advocating for an industry in which her peers could work without fear and without having to compete for opportunities that had historically been denied to them.
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Wilde had long wanted to stop being just another cog in the industry and take a more active role in the creative process.
“I always assumed acting was the way in, because for many young women … they’re told, ‘You love movies — you should be a movie star,’" she told 'Variety.' "No one tells a little girl, ‘Why don’t you become a director?’ It’s just not a part of the conversation. But if a little boy says he loves movies, it’s like, ‘Maybe one day you’ll direct. Maybe you’ll be the next Steven Spielberg or Martin Scorsese.’”
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At Burning Man, the unconventional arts and music festival held in Nevada’s desert, the young Wilde said “I do” to her boyfriend of only a few months, filmmaker Tao Ruspoli, the son of an Italian prince. By her own account, it took only seconds for her to realize that the ceremony might have been a little too impulsive.
“Immediately, I was like, 'Wait, what the fuck did I just do?'” she remembers thinking.
The marriage ended in divorce in 2011, although the two have remained on good terms.
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In November 2020, after several years together and a long engagement, they ended their relationship, setting off a custody dispute that would later make international headlines. In April 2022, during a film industry convention in Las Vegas, Wilde was interrupted onstage when a person approached to hand her legal documents related to the custody case.
Although Sudeikis maintained that he had no knowledge of how or when the papers would be served, Wilde described the incident as “incredibly traumatizing.”
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It is the sort of outfit anyone might wear to the office or while running errands.
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Tailored suits are another staple of her wardrobe, further proving her flair for sharp suiting. The architect behind a style that has grown increasingly sophisticated and eye-catching over the years is Karla Welch, who also styles Tracee Ellis Ross and Sarah Paulson.
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Her regular appearances at international fashion weeks, particularly in Paris and New York, have made her one of the celebrity names every brand wants seated in its front row.
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It seems that for Wilde, neither in fashion nor in life, much is beyond reach.
