The nanny who used to care for Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis‘ kids is suing the ex-couple, levying allegations of wrongful termination — and emotional distress.
Ericka Genaro filed a lawsuit against the A-list exes on Tuesday morning in Los Angeles County Superior Court. In the suit, she claims she was fired by the duo when she asked for medical leave. She also alleges she suffered “extreme anxiety” while trying to manage the pair’s household affairs and raise their two children while enduring their dramatic public breakup.
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As Perezcious readers will recall, Jason and Olivia have two children: 8-year-old Otis Alexander and 6-year-old Daisy Josephine. Genaro had been hired to care for the kids back in 2018 — back when they were 4 and 2 — while the parents worked their grueling Hollywood jobs. For a while, the nanny gig was fine. But when the stars’ relationship crumbled — and early claims about Olivia’s growing connection to now-ex-boyfriend Harry Styles — Genaro’s work-life balance went with it.
In the suit, Genaro claimed she was put in the middle of the family’s dispute after Sudeikis reportedly texted her with concerns about Wilde’s chemistry with the former One Direction frontman. Back in November 2020, the suit notes, Genaro was put front-and-center in the family hierarchy after Wilde “abruptly left the home where she lived with Sudeikis” in order to pursue Styles.
Genaro says the departure became a “shared trauma” for her and the couple’s children. She was left as nanny to pick up the pieces emotionally and care for them around-the-clock. In time, Sudeikis then took to “leaning on” her for support, the suit claims:
“Wilde’s sudden absence from the home had an adverse consequence on its emotional state, including Sudeikis leaning on the presence of Plaintiff for support. Although this shared trauma created a bond between Plaintiff and Sudeikis, Plaintiff became increasingly anxious and stressed with Sudeikis’ tendency to seemingly require Plaintiff to stay up at night after the kids were put to bed to talk, whereas that dynamic did not occur before Wilde’s absence.”
The high tension of the elevated role soon proved to be too much for Genaro:
“The pressure of [Genaro] not only being the primary caretaker of the children, but also filling in Wilde’s absence for the children, became debilitating.”
Yikes!!
Then, the nanny’s legal team claims, Sudeikis started to speak very candidly with her about his soon-to-be-ex-wife. Careful about having to “pick sides,” as the suit termed it, Genaro tried to tread carefully while being exposed firsthand to the split.
Citing “extreme anxiety” in the difficult situation, Ericka’s suit states she struggled with bridging the gap between the two parents as their split played out in news headlines:
“The subject matter of these late night conversations with Sudeikis naturally evolved into speaking about Wilde, which Plaintiff felt compelled to engage in despite creating extreme anxiety to her as she ostensibly felt she had to ‘pick sides’ between the parents of the children [of which] she was ostensibly the primary caretaker.”
Definitely not an easy situation to find oneself stuck in the middle…
Related: Could Olivia And Jason Be Back On Good Terms After Their Nasty Custody Battle?!
Eventually, the court filing states, Genaro contacted Wilde with plans to discuss the situation. At first, the nanny thought their private conversation went well, per the suit:
“Plaintiff felt a genuine sense of relief and camaraderie with Wilde, who reacted sympathetically from Plaintiff’s point of view. Plaintiff thought she got enough off her chest to be able to function without anxiety as the live-in nanny for Wilde’s and Sudeikis’ children, with Wilde as a reliable ear.”
But by December 2020, the whole thing completely imploded. That month, Genaro was traveling to London with Sudeikis and the kids. In the airport, the filing states, the Ted Lasso star reportedly told Ericka how he’d heard about her suddenly not-so-private conversation with the Don’t Worry Darling director:
“Plaintiff was stunned at the abrupt announcement, and her heart sank because of its significance — there was no peace when confiding in Wilde.”
Then, Genaro alleges Sudeikis asked her one question:
“Do you trust me?”
The now-former nanny sensed the query was a trap. In the lawsuit, she writes:
“[The questions was] part ‘gotcha,’ part threat, and part confirmation Plaintiff was on Sudeikis’ side.”
Whoa…
Genaro says she asked the family if she could receive a three-day “stress leave” to deal with the situation. However, Sudeikis supposedly fired her immediately because of it — apparently without any care as to her mental or emotional well-being. Now, per Page Six, Genaro is seeking punitive damages for emotional distress and wrongful termination in addition to attorney’s fees and the cost of the lawsuit.
Wilde and Sudeikis very quickly responded to the newly-filed docs, too. In a joint statement to DailyMail.com published later on Tuesday morning, the ex-couple slammed the legal maneuver together:
“As parents, it is incredibly upsetting to learn that a former nanny of our two young children would choose to make such false and scurrilous accusations about us publicly. Her now 18-month long campaign of harassing us, as well as loved ones, close friends and colleagues, has reached its unfortunate apex. We will continue to focus on raising and protecting our children with the sincere hope that she will now choose to leave our family alone.”
Damn! Full denial! And there’s more! A source close to the couple spoke to Page Six about the suit, claiming Genaro’s motives are much darker than how the filing makes it seem:
“[Genaro] has developed a pattern to try and score both fame and money … and this is just another avenue she’s trying in order to get paid.”
Oof. Do YOU think this is a money grab? And the “emotional distress” claim is just an angle? Regardless of how this lawsuit plays out in court, there is clearly a LOT of bad blood here. Reactions, Perezcious readers?
[Image via Nicky Nelson/Joseph Marzullo/WENN]
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