Olivia Wilde Slams Jason Sudeikis for Trying to 'Embarrass' and 'Threaten' Her with the 'Aggressive' Way She Was Served Custody Papers in the Middle of CinemaCon

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I always try not to make value judgments about famous people, because we never really know what they're like behind their carefully crafted, often disingenuous public persona. As Adam Carolla points out, the two TV stars most associated with joyfully dancing at the beginning of their shows are Bill Cosby and Ellen Degeneres. So you just never know about what kind of human beings they are when the cameras are off. 

That said, I agree with what KMarko said about Jason Sudeikis a few months ago.

Sudeikis gives me - and apparently pretty much everyone else - the impression he's a good guy.  That wild scene at CinemaCon notwithstanding:

DEADLINE — EXCLUSIVE: Like something out of a hackneyed Hollywood plot, the mysterious envelope picked up by Don’t Worry Darling director and star Olivia Wilde during her CinemaCon presentation last night for the New Line movie were legal documents from Ted Lasso star Jason Sudeikis.

It is our understanding that the manila envelope, marked personal and confidential, which was placed on stage, were custody papers from the Primetime Emmy winner.

Sudeikis has denied he had anything to do with the timing or the placing of how Wilde was served the papers. And maybe it's just the goodwill he's earned up from playing Ted Lasso or The Devil on Weekend Update talking, but I've believed him. Besides, a flex like that would defeat the purpose of serving her custody papers in the first place. That's a terrible look for a guy who's trying to argue in court he's the better, more mature, kind and nurturing parent. So I've assumed he's telling the truth he didn't want it to go down like that. 

As for Olivia Wilde? She does not agree with that assessment. 

Source - Wilde claims that Sudeikis used “outrageous legal tactics,” according to new court documents obtained by the Daily Mail on Wednesday.

“Jason’s actions were clearly intended to threaten me and catch me off guard,” Wilde, 38, alleged in the filing. “He could have served me discreetly, but instead he chose to serve me in the most aggressive manner possible.” …

“The fact that Jason would embarrass me professionally and put our personal conflict on public display in this manner is extremely contrary to our children’s best interests,” Wilde argued. “Since Jason has made it clear that we will not be able to work this out for our children’s sake outside of the court system, I filed a petition for custody in Los Angeles.”

Gird your loins. If these are the kind of tactics and language the two sides are using this early in the process, it looks like we're going to have another Johnny Depp/Amber Heard-level Category 5 legal shitstorm on our hands. It's the perfect formula for divorce lawyers. Genuine animosity, high emotions leftover from when the two sides actually cared about each other, plus tons and tons of money to wage war with. And while you might assume having two kids in the middle of all this would make everything more civil, all too often they just become the thing to spend the most money fighting about.  Situations like this are the reason why, when I used to work in a Probate and Family Court, I'd call my sainted mom every day right from the courtroom and thank her for how good I had it. 

But for the attorneys, this is the moment when they call their brokers and tell them to buy that lake house or sailboat they've been thinking about. Because there is a long, protracted, and very expensive battle ahead. Batten down the hatches.