Olivia Wilde is clapping back at haters who believe she has ‘abandoned’ her two children.
The actress told Elle in its November 2022 cover story, published Thursday, that she is criticized when she is “not photographed with” son Otis, 8, and daughter Daisy, 6.
“I share custody of my children with my ex,” she clarified, referring to Jason Sudeikis.
“People assume I’ve abandoned my kids, like my kids are somewhere in a hot car without me,” she said. Don’t worry honey director, 38, continued. “The suggestion is that I have abandoned my role as a mother.”
Wilde explained that the public doesn’t see her with the little ones because “she doesn’t let them be photographed.”
He concluded by asking, “Do you know how far I go to protect my children from being seen by you?”
The Booksmart The director, who went public with her relationship with Harry Styles in 2021, has already voiced her frustration with the parenting police as a working mom on the dating scene.
“When people don’t see me with my kids, it’s always, ‘How dare you,'” she said in an August interview with Variety.
“I’ve never seen anyone say that about a guy,” he said house it continued. “And if he’s with his son, he’s a f***ing hero.”
Wilde said that Otis and Daisy are her “world” and her “best friends,” adding that she recently stopped working to be more present with them.
“It was time to take a break and devote myself to the children when I have them,” she said. “This year was a time for me to be a stay-at-home mom. It wasn’t the year for me to be on a set, which is totally global.”
She and Sudeikis, who got engaged in 2013, welcomed Otis and Daisy in 2014 and 2016, respectively.
The former couple called it quits amid the coronavirus pandemic, publicly sharing their breakup in November 2020.
Wilde and the 47-year-old actor have been fighting for custody of their children.
All photos by Cass Bird for Elle
In April, their court battle made headlines when Wilde was handed papers while speaking at CinemaCon.
Four months later, he called the “Saturday Night Live” alum’s move “creepy” and “vicious” in a Variety interview.
“Unfortunately, it wasn’t something that completely surprised me,” Wilde told the magazine in August. “I mean, there’s a reason I left this relationship.”
This article was originally published by Page Six and reproduced with permission