Olivia Wilde has said it was a “miracle” the backlash she faced for dating Harry Styles never affected their relationship.
The American actress and director, 42, dated the former One Direction star, 32, for nearly two years before they broke up at the end of 2022.
The pair rarely spoke publicly about their relationship; however, Wilde has now broken her silence on their time together and said the scrutiny she faced didn’t affect them.
Speaking on the Call Her Daddy podcast, she told host Alex Cooper: “Oh man, it really did upset people.”
“It was crazy. I don’t know how much I understand it yet. I understand it had very little to do with me,” she continued. “People were f****** p***ed.
“I think it also had a lot to do with the kind of parasocial relationship people have with him which is a burden that is very weighty and not something I envy. He carries it with grace.
“I think that is an enormous responsibility that all those stars have to carry, and it’s impossible,” The OC star added.
“It’s wild because we had the loveliest relationship, so sweet and beautiful, and really very domestic and lovely.”
“I think we existed in this little bubble, and the judgment never got in, which was a miracle, a testament to us making that happen.
“I think that people were mad. It was almost like the happiness made them mad.”
The pair met on the set of Don't Worry Darling in 2020, where Wilde directed the psychological thriller and Styles starred opposite Florence Pugh.
The film, released in 2022, follows a seemingly idyllic 1950s housewife who begins to suspect that her husband's secretive workplace is hiding something sinister.
The pair began dating during production and remained together for almost two years before splitting amicably in late 2022, with reports at the time suggesting the demands of Styles' global tour schedule and Wilde's commitment to raising her two children in Los Angeles had made their relationship difficult to sustain.
During their relationship Wilde made a rare comment about Styles in an interview with Vogue, in which she said: “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.”
She also said of criticisms to their age gap: “It’s obviously really tempting to correct a false narrative.
“But I think what you realise 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.”
Looking back on that period, Wilde said stepping away from the spotlight after the film's release was a conscious decision.
“I felt like I needed to get quiet and needed to hear myself again and process all the pain and the lessons that I could find with it,” she said.
“My own attempt to be strong and to rise above it came across as inauthentic because people were like, ‘You must be hurting. Why are you pretending to not be hurting?’... I'm a different person than I was three years ago.”
Since their split, Styles has been linked to actress Zoë Kravitz, while Wilde is reportedly dating art dealer Caspar Jopling, the former husband of singer Ellie Goulding.
Wilde also reflected on splitting from former fiancé Jason Sudeikis, whom she shares son Otis, 12, and daughter Daisy, nine, with, and said their separation made them better parents.
“I think there's a lot of people who stay in relationships because they feel this obligation,” she said.
“A lot of the time it has to do with the fact that they feel this extreme shame and guilt for breaking up a family because they assume that means the kid will have less love.
“But that's a choice. You can create a dynamic that allows that kid to have the maximum amount of love. We are great co-parents.”
The actress said she underwent “a ton of therapy” following the split and viewed it as an opportunity to rebuild her life.
“These kids are consistently getting the best of us in a way that when we were together was not possible because we did not work together, but we work really well as separated co-parents,” she said.
“So when I talk to people who are in very unhappy situations and staying in it for the kids, I'm like, you're doing no one any favours.”
