It was not a dramatic fight or a headline-making scandal that convinced Olivia Wilde her relationship with Jason Sudeikis had reached the finish line.
Instead, it was one birthday conversation she says she will never forget.
Appearing on the Call Her Daddypodcast, Wilde reflected on the final chapter of her nearly 10-year relationship with the Ted Lassostar, revealing that a simple question during a car ride home in March 2020 exposed how much had changed between them.
“Jason and I had been having a rough time for a while. We had a real bumpy ride,” Wilde said.
After celebrating her 36th birthday, Wilde recalled asking Sudeikis whether he had bought her a gift. His response stopped her cold.
“He said, ‘What would I get you, Olivia? I don’t know you,’” Wilde recalled.
The comment stung, but she admitted it also carried an uncomfortable truth.
“He wasn’t wrong” because they “didn’t know each other anymore.”
The emotional moment later inspired parts of Wilde’s upcoming film The Invite, which explores a marriage struggling under the weight of emotional distance.
“You can get to a place in a relationship where you stop engaging in the knowing of each other and the curiosity of each other, and you find yourself in a place where you’re like, ‘I don’t even know you,’” Wilde explained.
“It was f**king tough,” she admitted. “It brought us to the place of, ‘OK, this is done, we’re gonna end this.’”
Today, however, Wilde says the story has a happier ending in a different form. Despite a highly public breakup, she and Sudeikis have found their rhythm as parents to Otis and Daisy.
“These kids are consistently getting the best of us in a way that when we were together was not possible,” she said. “We did not work together. But we work really well as separated co-parents.”
2026-06-18 12:41:00
