Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis’ kids still stuck in parents’ nasty custody war

With a court ruling in New York City Thursday, Olivia Wilde may have scored a “big victory” in her battle with Jason Sudeikis over child custody and child support.

But it’s clear that there’s still a lot of disagreement and animosity between the two celebrities over where their 8-year-old son and 6-year-old daughter will live and which parent has their best interests at heart, with the children stuck at the center of a family war that’s being played out in public and in the tabloids.

In Wilde’s victory, a judge in New York City rejected Sudeikis’ request to have the case moved to New York, saying that “it is in the interest of substantial justice that the parties’ child support petition be heard in California,” TMZ reported.

It’s not clear if this ruling will have any impact on where the children will end up living — if a California judge will be more sympathetic to Wilde’s plea to have the kids remain in Los Angeles. The “Don’t Worry Darling” director and star has said there’s no reason for the children to live on the East Coast, as 6-year-old Daisy never went to school there and 8-year-old Otis only attended one semester of kindergarten in New York. Nonetheless, Sudeikis has pushed for the children to live with him in Brooklyn.

But TMZ said Thursday’s ruling could have an impact on child support, because California is typically more generous about awarding child support than New York.

The ruling, however, doesn’t change the fact that Wilde and the “Ted Lasso” star are still going to court and accusing each other of engaging in bad behavior, showing that there has been no improvement in their relationship. That can’t make things easy for the children, even if both parents think they are doing their best to keep the hostilities hidden.

Many observers thought that the animosity might have cooled when Wilde and Sudeikis were photographed embracing each other in January.

Wilde likewise thought that she and Sudeikis were moving toward an amicable resolution, according to a court filing obtained by the Daily Mail. But Sudeikis’ push to have the dispute heard in New York prompted Wilde to accuse him of trying to litigate her “into debt” by prolonging the case over jurisdictional issues. Wilde went further, accusing the former “Saturday Night Live” star of being “underhanded,” acting in “bad faith” and jeopardizing their children’s future by using “intimidation or trickery” to win, the outlet reported.

“We were scheduled to start working with a family therapist in California in mid-January. I thought things were calming down and were going to move forward in a more amicable, respectful fashion,” Wilde said in her court filing, the Daily Mail reported.

“Instead I learned … that the entire time I was negotiating the parenting time schedule in California (Jason) was plotting to proceed with the New York Child Support proceeding behind my back,” Wilde said.

“(Jason’s) underhandedness and bad faith in these proceedings is astounding,” Wilde continued in the filing. “I am completely perplexed at why he believes that engaging in intimidation or trickery will serve him or our children’s best interests.”

Wilde’s attorneys also said that her ex-finance knows that he is “far wealthier than she is” and can presumably afford to prolong the case, the Daily Mail reported.

“While Jason can afford to spin his wheels with filing after filing, Olivia cannot,” Wilde’s attorneys wrote in advance of a hearing scheduled in Los Angeles Friday, according to the Daily Mail. “Jason seems intent on throwing whatever he can against the wall to see what will stick. … Jason should not be permitted to litigate Olivia into debt, and then claim she should be deprived of her right to seek a needs-based fee contribution from him.”

Wilde and Sudeikis started dating in November 2011 and got engaged in January 2013. They separated in November 2020 but appeared to be on the same page when it came to co-parenting their children, the Daily Mail said.

Sometime after their separation, rumors began to emerge that Wilde had begun dating music heartthrob Harry Styles, who starred in her movie “Don’t Worry Darling.” The romance reportedly began when they were in production.

In January 2021, the rumors were confirmed that Wilde and Styles were more than just friends when they were spotted holding hands at a friend’s wedding in Montecito. The following April, Wilde’s split from Sudeikis turned ugly when she was served with custody papers while on stage at CinemaCon, promoting “Don’t Worry Darling” to a crowd of 4,000 industry insiders.

Since then the couple have waged in a nasty bi-coastal custody war, with the media also hyping up Wilde’s romance with Styles, which ended late last year. Before the release of “Don’t Worry Darling” in October, Wilde faced reports that she had neglected her directing duties and angered her other star, Florence Pugh, by spending too much time with Styles on the set. She also had to address accusations, made by her children’s former nanny, that she two-timed Sudeikis and she neglected her children in order to be with Styles.

It remains to be seen whether the judge’s court ruling on Thursday will end it.  Wilde and Sudeikis were scheduled to appear at a hearing in Los Angeles Friday, but it was abruptly canceled with no reason given, the Daily Mail said.