Olivia Wilde is apparently living her best life and could care less about what everyone has to say — and when it comes to her romance with Harry Styles, people say a lot.
In a new interview with Vogue published on Thursday, the 37-year-old actress addressed the criticism and obsession from the public and the press about their almost year-long relationship. Specifically, she touched on the judgment she has received about being a woman in her late 30s dating a man a decade younger. Her thoughts on it, you ask? Well, she claims she is generally unbothered by all of the chatter. Wilde told the magazine:
“It’s obviously really tempting to correct a false narrative. But I think what you realize is that when you’re really happy, it doesn’t matter what strangers think about you. All that matters to you is what’s real, and what you love, and who you love. In the past 10 years, as a society, we have placed so much more value on the opinion of strangers rather than the people closest to us. I’m happier than I’ve ever been. And I’m healthier than I’ve ever been, and it’s just wonderful to feel that.”
It is certainly all that matters!
While Wilde doesn’t actually name her man in the piece, she does reference a “friend” who recently joined her on a visit to her parent’s house in D.C. and gifted her the necklace with her son Otis and daughter Daisy’s names on it that’s similar to one Styles wears. We can all pretty much guess that she is talking about the One Direction alum!
Related: Harry Explains Why He Never Talks About Olivia Romance!
News of Wilde and Styles’ coupling broke a couple of months after she and Jason Sudeikis called off their longtime engagement in 2020. While the couple has kept their romance low-key for the most part, Wilde and Styles were spotted out and about several times this year, including while vacationing together on a yacht in Italy over the summer. And of course she’s been a fixture dancing at his shows.
According to the Booksmart director, the trip inevitably created some negative press about her supposedly ditching her kids for her relationship. However, Wilde explained to Vogue that she ultimately recognizes the importance of prioritizing her own well-being at times for the sake of her children:
“Parenting forces you to be honest about how you live your life. It puts in sharp, clear focus decisions you’re making. I think we owe it to our children to be happy. They sense it. They’re so intuitive. The idea that you can trick your kids into thinking you’re happy is ludicrous.”
She continued:
“It’s very easy to control women by using guilt and shame, and I have no time for misplaced guilt and shame. The work I’ve done personally in the last decade has been learning to have a voice, and taking my voice seriously.”
As you may know, Olivia and Harry connected after meeting on the set of her upcoming thriller, Don’t Worry Darling, in which she directed and co-starred alongside him and Florence Pugh. Speaking on casting the singer in the film, she shared:
“I cannot tell you how many men read the script and said, ‘Unless it’s a two-hander, unless I’m in as much – or more – of the script than she is, it’s not worth it.’”
Whoa, WHAT?? That’s awful! But Olivia is used to that kind of attitude:
“And it’s not their fault. They’ve been raised with this kind of innate misogyny as a part of their society: ‘If I don’t take up enough space, I won’t seem valuable.’ Actresses – highly trained, highly valuable actresses – have appeared in supporting roles in countless films. We don’t think about it in terms of, ‘My role is not as big as his.’ It’s, ‘Oh, it’s a good role. It’s a role where I have a brain.’”
Thankfully Harry didn’t have any of those hangups. A true ally!
TBH, it was nice to see Olivia opening up about their relationship a little bit more since they’ve remained pretty tight-lipped about it over the past year. What are your thoughts on her response to the age-gap criticism? Let us know in the comments (below). You can also ch-ch-check out the entire interview with Wilde HERE.
[Image via WENN/Avalon]
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