Olivia Wilde reflects on backlash over 10-year age gap with ex Harry Styles
Years after their highly publicized romance made headlines, Olivia Wilde is looking back on the criticism she faced over her relationship with her ex Harry Styles—particularly the scrutiny surrounding their 10-year age gap.
During her guest appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast hosted by Alex Cooper, the 42-year-old actress recounted what it was like to face critics of her relationship with Style, who is 32.
"People were f*****ing pissed. I think that it also had a lot to do with the kind of parasocial relationship people had with, have with him, which is a burden that is very weighty and not something I envy and he carries it with grace," she said.
Wilde remarked that their age gap "really did upset people."
"It was crazy. I don't know how much I understand it yet. That's one of the factors that I never really felt like, I fully, I don't know," she said.
Despite this, she highlighted that her romance with Styles was the "loveliest relationship" she had, describing it as "so sweet and so beautiful and really, actually, very domestic and kind and lovely."
"We existed in this, like, little bubble and the judgment never really got into that bubble, which was a miracle and testament to us making that happen," Wilde said.
"I think that people were mad. It's almost like the happiness made them mad. I would go to shows and dance, and people were like, ‘Oh, bitch. You slut.' Oh, man. I don't know. It really did upset people, though," she added.
She went on to compare her relationship with her former fiancé Jason Sudeikis, who similarly had an 11-year age gap with Keeley Hazell.
"Jason was photographed with his girlfriend on the beach in Costa Rica or something. And the press were like, ‘Yay for him! He looks so happy, so wonderful,'" Wilde said. "And I was like, if I was away from my children on a national holiday, frolicking on a beach, it'd be like, ‘Just burn her at the stake now. Take her out. Take the kids away from her forever and burn her to the ground.'"
Wilde and Styles were in a relationship from January 2021 to November 2022. A year prior, the actress had ended her engagement with Sudeikis in 2020 after being together since 2011. They have two children together: a son, born in 2014, and a daughter, born in 2016.