I am obsessed with this story, just FYI!!! So, Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde never married, and as such, I think following their split in 2020, their custodial arrangement for their two kids has been pretty loosey-goosey. We know that Jason and Olivia have both gone out of their way at different times to relocate temporarily just so both exes will have access to the kids. But it looks like Jason wants some custody issues to be formalized by the court. So he’s apparently served Olivia with some custody documents. The issue? Olivia got served with the documents while she was ON STAGE at CinemaCon, making a presentation for her second directorial effort, Don’t Worry Darling.
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 onstage, were custody papers from the Emmy winner.
During the Warner Bros. CinemaCon session at Caesars Palace’s The Colosseum, Wilde was briefly interrupted when an unidentified person approached from the front rows and slid a manila envelope across the front of the stage toward her. “This is for me?” Wilde asked.
She retrieved the envelope and opened it. However, like a pro, Wilde was not rattled by what must have been a shocker. With her personal life put suddenly on public display, the filmmaker continued addressing the audience made up largely of exhibitors about her project. After the trailer for Don’t Worry Darling played, it was met with great applause.
Which basically means that a process server went out of his or her way to go to CinemaCon, sit front row for Olivia’s presentation and then chose to slide the manila envelope to Olivia while she was in the middle of her presentation! That’s f–king awful. But did Jason know it would go down like this? Despite reporting to the contrary, it’s usually the lawyers, not the clients, who choose which process server to use and where someone will be served. As such, Jason’s people are saying that they didn’t know Olivia would be served on stage:
Jason Sudeikis “had no prior knowledge” that his former fiancée, Olivia Wilde, would be served with child custody documents during her appearance at CinemaCon, a source tells Variety.
“Papers were drawn up to establish jurisdiction relating to the children of Ms. Wilde and Mr. Sudeikis,” the source said. “Mr. Sudeikis had no prior knowledge of the time or place that the envelope would have been delivered as this would solely be up to the process service company involved and he would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner.”
On Tuesday, while Wilde was presenting the trailer for her new film “Don’t Worry Darling” at the movie exhibitors convention, a mysterious manila envelope labeled “personal and confidential” was slid to her by someone in front of the stage. At first, onlookers believed the envelope to be a script from someone attempting to gain the “Booksmart” director’s attention — but Deadline reported on Wednesday afternoon that the envelope contained custody documents from Sudeikis.
Variety spoke to several eye witnesses who said the individual who served Wilde the envelope was credentialed by CinemaCon. Representatives for Wilde did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
In response to the incident, CinemaCon said in a statement that it would “reevaluate” their security protocols. “To protect the integrity of our studio partners and the talent, we will reevaluate our security protocols,” NATO managing director and head of CinemaCon Mitch Neuhauser told Variety. “We will act accordingly because it’s the right thing to do. We want to do the safe, proper thing.”
I mean… being served by a licensed process server isn’t a security threat? While it’s embarrassing for Olivia, it’s not “harassment” or “threatening.” That being said, it’s f–ked up that the server did that to her while she was on stage. People are also wondering if the process server went to these lengths (getting credentialed, sitting front row, serving her mid-presentation) because Olivia had managed to avoid being served previous times. Also: in most states, people with any kind of background can be a process server. Aren’t there cops and legal aides who moonlight as servers? That might be how the server was credentialed at CinemaCon.
Photos courtesy of Getty.
Process servers won’t go to those lengths unless someone has been avoiding service. In most states, too, the person being served can avoid this issue by waiving service of process and acknowledging service. Not sure why her lawyers didn’t do so to avoid issues.
I agree. When my father died I had to deal with the bank regarding his house. There was a hearing and the process server actually called me and I asked if I could meet her away from work (I was at work at the time). We met up at a fast food parking lot. She said she didn’t like to serve people at work and wanting to give me the courtesy of meeting elsewhere. I really appreciate that. It sounds like his lawyers had been trying to serve her and was actively avoiding them.
Yup, this.
To me it seems pretty likely she either was avoiding service or was difficult to find/get near. Depending on her home and where she lives, that might be relatively easy for her. Most celebs seem to have gated communities/security.
It’s a last resort tactic.
Jason’s lawyers need to ask Olivia’s lawyers if they’ll accept service. Jason’s lawyers may not have done that. And most process servers go to the house or business a couple of times and then stop. For a process server to do this kind of thing involves direction from the lawyers to take extraordinary steps – and they may have even discussed this plan. Process servers don’t do this stuff without talking to the lawyers.
All of them have been in London for months, she doesn’t have a business address. If she didn’t tell Jason where she was staying in LA (why would she?), they couldn’t have caught up with her there. She could have waived service of process. The court would not look kindly at this as a first attempt to contact her so it is unlikely it is the first attempt.
You keep saying, “she doesn’t have a business address”, but I don’t think you have enough information to make that call. You don’t even couch it in terms like “I don’t think…” or “She might not have…”. Instead you are being certain about matters of which you couldn’t possibly have certainty, unless you directly worked with her team.
First of all, most celebs have a business entity that they set up to receive and handle payments for their entertainment work. This is usually established at their business management’s office, and the address of the firm is used for all official business, such as receiving payments for work, setting up insurance policies, filing tax returns, etc. The biz manager’s address would accept mail for both personal (insurance, cable bills, etc.) and business matters (employee welfare, residuals, etc). The idea that they didn’t know how to send correspondence to an official address is a reeeeeaaaaaallly big stretch.
I’m just astounded how many people are making claims for which they do not have the supporting factual information.
Tiffany
We’re typing on our phones and are quick with thoughts. I hope my comments are never nitpicked this much and people get the gist of my scattered thoughts.
It sounds to me as a personal opinion that the server tried and this was a last resort. Both Olivia and Jason appear private with moments of oversharing in the tabloids. Her more than him (imo), but still they seem respectful of each other and this server made a final effort. Not a public humiliation effort for the sake of it. Not a first time effort either. But now she’s served and they can continue to arrange some stable custody for their children. Which is nice.
Wiglet, are you saying that you think I’m “nitpicking” Cava’s comments? No, I am holding someone accountable for making statements that sound like fact when they aren’t substantiated. Cava has written that Olivia “doesn’t have a business address” multiple times. I’m not being overly critical by pointing out that’s a step too far.
At this time, there’s no evidence that this was a final effort, or that she was avoiding being served. And it’s totally possible that they tried to serve before, but weren’t successful, even though she might not have actively tried to avoid being served (travel, etc.).
Reasonable people will accept there is much the public doesn’t know, so making assumptions about Olivia’s avoidance or Jason’s sabotage is going too far.
Jason’s lawyers need to ask Olivia’s lawyers if they’ll accept service. Jason’s lawyers may not have done that. And most process servers go to the house or business a couple of times and then stop. For a process server to do this kind of thing involves direction from the lawyers go take extraordinary steps – and they may have even discussed this plan. Process servers don’t do this stuff without talking to the lawyers.
I was about to say the same thing. He had to have had a hard time serving her to go to those lengths
Came here to say the same this. Mr. RP is an atty and deals with hiring process servers daily. He commented that while most people don’t LIKE to be served, they wouldn’t have gone to that length and serve her at that kind of public event for the very first attempt, if you know what I mean.
They share children together, which means drop-offs, when she could be served directly, and that he knows where she lives, which means that the summons can be left with people in her household. I am not assuming that she’s been avoiding service, and it bums me out that so many people have lept to his side without knowing more information.
@josephine: I’m not leaping to sides, I’m posting what my husband commented he deals with daily and his professional experience is with this exact type of situation.
Josephine, I don’t think you can just leave a summons with ‘people in the household’ though. If it’s a document that you have to be served with, they have to serve it to *you*, isn’t that the point?
(I’m really asking, because I’m not sure I’m right about this)
They are all living in the UK right now, Jason is filming Ted Lasso and she was supposed to start a directing job (that may have been pushed back). You may have to serve someone in the US for this or get something through a federal court.
I agree, Josephine. She hasn’t been living under a rock. Clearly, because of the child care situation, these 2 parents know how to contact each other. It’s truly gross that people are rushing to make assumptions about her actions. There is no proof that she was avoiding being served, and yet so many people are pretending that is the only reason this would happen.
Some people need very little motivation to start piling on women. We are always the villains, it seems.
Another adult living in the same household can accept the papers. Or a lawyer can handle the matter. There are plenty of options that don’t include embarrassing a woman who is already in the public spotlight and in the middle of a presentation. Not a fan of Jason or Olivia, but these are just facts. This is not usually done because it’s usually fully unnecessary.
In addition, process servers do not act without authorization from lawyers, and Jason absolutely has control over what his lawyers choose to do — he is paying them and could have instructed them to protect Olivia’s privacy because this also reflects on the privacy of himself and his children in the custody case. If it were me, I would certainly hope to protect my children’s privacy as much as possible!
Came here to echo the same. She must have been evading the service attempt. I’ve never seen a server deliver in such a public forum. It must have been the ultimate last resort.
I have had service delivered in a public forum when the server documented multiple attempts had been thwarted. And when the papers were finally served, the server told me that there were two other servers doing the same thing.
I’m not sure i buy that she was hard to find since it’s been public knowledge that she was at Coachella the last two weekends. She was papped there and spotted by fans and everyone knew she would be there. And if there was an issue serving her wouldn’t Jason have known? Even if they aren’t on great terms they seem to fly in and out of London/NY a lot to alternate time with the kids so i can’t imagine he had no idea where she was for weeks.
I’d think she’d have a huge retinue, or at the very least private security, with her there, which would make approaching her in a crowded venue almost impossible, esp. in the VIP sections.
Because a celeb is out and about does not mean they are easy to access. I’m noticing comments here thinking about this situation like it’s any normal person.
And Olivia will be fine. This is more press for her and trust me when I type there will be a story from her people about how awful this was for her and how jealous Jason is that she’s more successful. I’ll eat my hat if that doesn’t come out within a week or less.
I’m pretty sure it WAS awful for her. she has attorneys and agents. the process server could have gone to them. they should have gone to them! really his attorneys should have called her attorneys. or they could have approached her at the end instead of interrupting. this seems purposely done in a rough manner.
fwiw I really don’t even know who she is. I’m constantly mixing up the Famous Olivias! (there are so many of them!) I just think it’s unfortunate how everyone starts pointing fingers without having much info.
That’s what I was thinking, why would they go to these lengths unless she’s been dodging them for awhile. That doesn’t make sense.
I was a summer student at a family law firm and they got me to act as a process server a few times. I would get an address and track the person down. They were always a bit shocked because I was a young looking 18 year old who said their name as a cheery question and handed them legal papers. I think I’d probably stay at the side of the stage and wait for her had this been my assignment, but I suppose they were on the clock! Oof.
Yikes! I’m not her biggest fan but this is ridiculously awful for her. I’m kind of speechless. There must be more to this? Things must be so bad between these exes that it comes to something like this.
Yeah, I’m with you. This has the stench of a malicious ex, and if so, I hope she calls him out on it.
Either way, this is on Jason Sudeikis’ lawyers, and I am really finding it hard to believe any lawyer would choose this location to serve without the knowledge of their client.
I’m ambivalent about both of them, but yikes, this is bad.
I honestly think it’s probably all of these things–celebrities are hard to track down, Wilde was evading them because she is busy, and the process server is clearly sexist and would not have done this if a man were being served, etc.
I’m curious as to why she didn’t accept custody papers privately. Did her legal team drop the ball or was she being extremely avoidant? Something behind the scenes went very awry for a process server to do this.
Omg this is crazy! I’m definitely staying tune for more details on this.
For now, I’m leaning towards her lawyers dropping the ball and/or it being difficult to serve her otherwise. I had a coworker who was avoiding papers from his ex (frankly he & his lawyers were doing it just to annoy her and avoided all reasonable requests to be served). He had established a way to get out of his bldg, gym etc to avoid a server. He was at a client lunch at one of his regular restaurants when the server finally caught up with him.
PS – I love her suit.
I am curious about why she opened an envelope she received from some random stranger on stage. She was there to do something else; complete that & open the envelope later. Makes no sense to me.
That was my thought too @BeanieBean. That seemed so strange to me that she wouldn’t have just accepted the envelope and kept going with her speech. Surely had it been an emergency (like with family/kids) someone would have approached her on stage and quietly told her. It makes no sense to me either. Oh well, I’m sure she had her reasons.
I too am kinda mesmerized with this story. I will give the server the benefit of the doubt and say Olivia was avoiding being served and so this was a last resort. Because why go through all the trouble of serving her there??? I would think a server just wants to hand the papers and be done with the job. Especially a high profile one. Why draw more attention to yourself when you want to be incognito when serving people with papers??? Also, if she seemed unfazed, maybe she knew this was coming and really was avoiding. Because come on, she isn’t Meryl Streep as far as acting.
Which man lately has showed he deserves the benefit of the doubt? Is it Brad Pitt? Johnny Depp?
I see everyone jumping to this, so my reply is not meant to you specifically. I give no benefit of any doubt to any famous man. I’m gonna need to see the receipts.
Yep, this seems designed to humiliate her at a work event. Her ex had a comment all ready to go for the press saying he never imagined it would happen in a public venue, but why comment at all if not to confirm what happened.
JS was all over the media crying about timelines, being hurt and saying that Styles would soon get bored of an older woman all while omitting that JS himself had moved on with Keeley Hazel.
The comment was more giving the server the benefit of the doubt – it seems logical and likely a server would not necessarily want to go through the hoops it must’ve taken to server her in this specific scenario. The original comment didn’t even mention Jason…? In my experience, someone is typically served in a public setting after an attempt (or several) is previously made.
T – the debate is about Jason, trust.
Zapp – that’s how I see this, and I am just very wary of these famous men. Whom everyone seems to confuse with the characters they play. Again, it’s possible, but I would need to see the receipts. Until that time, any benefit of any doubt goes against the man in my book.
Same here. Also when someone avoids service you just go to the judge and get an order to consider them served through the mail. This is completely crappy and if she were a man people would be outraged about how dare his work be impacted his reputation blah blah
Yes, I agree. This was meant to humiliate her at an important work event.
In NY State she could waive service of process and they wouldn’t have had to serve her at all, anywhere. It is likely the court will ask if Jason’s team tried that first. They most likely did.
Boom. This.
I get that for some reason Olivia ain’t everybody’s favorite but this looks bad and we’re all assuming the best of Jason and the worst of her.
Remember back to Prince Andrew’s case – she didn’t serve him directly because he hid but that doesn’t matter. It’s a public misconception and legal fiction that you have to be served with papers in your hand. Your lawyer, your partner, your gardener (or butler in PAs case). You just need to be aware of the suit and to say they couldn’t get anybody else and had to do this in public at an event as a last resort with no approval?
Nope. Don’t believe it. This is straight BP or JD level nonsense and we’re falling for it.
That’s what I think, Oh_Hey. And this idea that he was forced to do this because he wants the case in NY and she doesn’t…well to me that’s just evidence he is using the legal system to control her. That’s not the flex people seem to think it is.
@trina: yes, they could more for that, but Sudekis’s side is also required to show proof that the process server took photographic evidence with a special program that has timestamp(s) and GPS location on attempt(s) at service per my atty husband who practices in NY/NYC. Ironically enough, he never talks in the morning without about 30oz of cawfee in him first but this news made him quite the Chatty Cathy this am.
Wait, do y’all think clients pick when documents are served? Because no, that’s not how that works.
Yes! Thank you! Not leaping to give a man the benefit of the doubt here. It is rather unbelievable that there was no discreet, private way to handle this. Olivia and Jason both employ teams of people including lawyers familiar with the process.
Jason Sudeikis has control over how he handles his own affairs and what instructions he gives to people who work for him. Saying “Jason has no control over this” isn’t accurate.
It might have been harder to serve her because of her celebrity status and therefore, her previously established security measures. It’s kind of gross that people are assigning her intentions to this action (that she was intentionally avoiding being served), it just reeks of misogyny.
Just throwing this out here but maybe Jason gave instructions to serve her in as public a way as possible, leaving it up to the lawyers and server to choose the time and place for maximum impact.
Same. I will reserve judgement until we see the receipts that the process server tried and failed previous attempts to serve her. This is a very humiliating thing to do to someone and even Jason’s team admit that this is inappropriate.
Yeah, “most likely” doesn’t mean a damn thing.
If Jason’s lawyers did not try to contact her another way first, get her to sign a waiver, etc, it will be not looked well upon by the court.
No, it won’t.
We are giving Jason the benefit of the doubt because we know how the legal structure works. Jason has no control over this. Listen, I’m tired of men too but rich white women aren’t exactly farther down on the list.
I don’t believe we know that Jason has “no” control over this, sorry. And both Amber and Angelina are rich white women too. I’m gonna tell you, I don’t give men the benefit of the doubt against a woman, regardless. And that’s ended up working out pretty good for me so far.
@Trina I totally agree. The sad thing is that we as women (some) don’t stick together.
Red, it’s not just that people are giving Jason the benefit of the doubt. They aren’t just saying that maybe he didn’t know. Many people are going 1 step further and saying that SHE caused this to happen because she “must” have been avoiding being served. So not only are they giving Jason the benefit of the doubt, they aren’t giving her the benefit of the doubt and are blaming her for this. There’s nothing to support that, so you have to wonder why people would jump to such conclusions in the absence of evidence.
I don’t have a problem believing that the server just might be some butthead out for their two minutes of fame.
The (his) plan might also have been her humiliation. It was an ignorant thing to do to.
Coal-blood-dead!
I cannot help but think it was done because she (allegedly but in reality actually) cheated on Sudeikis with Harry Styles while directing the very movie she’s promoting, starring Harry Styles.
The server thought of the optics and said, Yessssssssss.
I thought it was Jason that cheated with a British co star? I haven’t followed closely but I thought he stepped out first and then she left him
No, she cheated on Jason first.
My understanding was that she fell for Harry and then Jason eventually found comfort in/took up with a longtime friend. It’s messy no matter how you spin it. Also it’s unclear when in fact they “separated” and what the overlap was with the Harry part. I like to believe the most logical explanation: they’re no angels. (I think Jason stepped out on his first wife, and there are rumors of a few, perhaps, questionable dalliances from the past—Aziz-like—being suppressed to preserve his rep.)
I’ve served subpoenas and we often did it in public, at places of work, school, etc., because most people’s guards are down and are less likely to make a scene. Going to their home was a waste of time because people don’t answer doors to strangers or if they are expecting the papers. The one and only time I attempted to serve someone and knew that he’d be alone, and not in public, my boss came with me. At first I was annoyed, but it was a good thing I wasn’t alone, because after I served him, he came after me with a 14 inch knife! I should add that I only worked criminal cases, though.
So you served them at work before exhausting attempts to serve them in private? But how can that be since the internet assures me since last night that Wilde must have avoided all prior attempts and they were forced to do this?
No, we actively avoided serving privately. I do think it was done this way to embarrass her, because the way she was served was more expensive and time consuming (applying for credentials) than it needed to be. At the law firms I worked for, this would have to have been pre approved by the lead attorney on the case, since the expenses would need to be charged back to the client. Approving this type of theatrics would imply to me that the attorney believes that the client would be okay with it. But I can believe 100% that Jason didn’t “know” about this in advance, so he can swear that that’s the “truth.”
Interesting, thank you for your experienced perspective. I think you are implying plausible deniability. This seems so likely to me. You know, but you don’t “know”. I won’t be surprised if that’s exactly what happened.
Good lordt! Now see? That’s why they do it in public, witnesses and a matter of safety!
Remember when Prince Andrew was ducking service for months and then went to court like, I wasn’t served? And railed at his security for inadvertently accepting it? So, yeah, if someone is avoiding being served, you get ‘em when and where they least expect it. And at a time and place when you’ll be safest!
They seem to be saying they served people at work routinely, and not because they had been avoiding being served prior. An important distinction IMO. Everyone is stating at fact (I mean on Twitter) that Wilde must have been avoiding being served for this to have happened.
She said she only served criminals so it makes sense she’d be doing that in public. Another person said the process server called her to meet elsewhere because she didn’t like serving them in public. I don’t have a dog in this fight, but I think the person being served makes a difference. I doubt anybody saw Olivia as a threat to their safety. She’s probably just difficult to reach by nature of being a celebrity.
But are you saying a process server seriously thought a famous Hollywood actor/director might physically harm him if he attempted service more privately?
@Chaine No, just that we actively tried to serve publicly rather than privately. Also, in my experience, a famous actor/director absolutely has a higher chance of harming me than an average person.
LOL Fiona. I can see that.
Maybe some of our legal experts here know for sure, but I’m not sure that you need to be a licensed process server to serve papers, just be over 18 and not connected to the case.
That is the way. The law doesn’t require that it be a process server, just that she be served by an adult not involved in the case.
Thanks (and thanks to Fiona Fan) – that’s what I thought. So, it’s not really a question of security so far as registration credentials are concerned. Pretty much anyone could attend if they registered properly or the lawyers could have approached someone who was already registered.
@eurydice I didn’t need to be licensed in NY. However, I did have to have a background check and be fingerprinted at a local police precinct to get the job.
RE the ‘ it’s just a process server, not a security threat’ point
I’m thinking for the event, an attendee getting credentials under false pretenses, approaching a presenter that closely, putting something onstage without being stopped or questioned is the issue, not that this one particular person was actively a threat.
Exactly. No matter how this went down, this part is alarming. So many famous women have deluded and sometimes dangerous stans. And she’s with Harry Styles. Be honest, he’s one of those “internet boyfriends”. Lotta stans unhappy he’s with her. So this was a security threat, yes.
Yeah it’s scary. I don’t want to bring the slappening in to it but it seems like there is little to nothing to prevent someone from walking up to the stage unplanned at more than one high profile event. That seems incredibly dangerous because maybe it’s an upset celeb, or a process server, or maybe it’s someone with a weapon or that intends to harm.
Going with the server was a dick. All that prep could have easily served coming off stage, not in the middle. This was deliberate and I don’t even think Jason Sudeikis sanctioned it. I think it was just a power hungry server that went for maximum humiliation. What a stuffed up system!
Serving her coming off stage would have been next to impossible. First the server would have had to get backstage (much easier said than done) and then once Wilde is backstage, she’s with whatever security or bodyguards she has with her (because of the Harry Styles of it all) and gone into whatever service tunnels in the bowels of Caesar’s and on to whatever she has next on the schedule. Serving her onstage was likely the only time at that location she was unobstructed to physically accept the papers
She would have exited the stage to the backstage, not into the audience. They would not have been able to serve her there. Also, she and Jason have both mostly been in London for months, if she has to be served in the US it was this or Coachella if she’s avoiding being served. Which she might have been if Jason is trying to establish NY as the jurisdiction for custody which it sounds like he was. Where they were going to live was apparently something they argued about if you look at their initial breakup story. Determining which court has jurisdiction for custody could where everyone lives long term.
Wow! Not a fan of hers but that is so f*****. I bet she was avoiding being served or traveling a lot but still, I would be so embarrassed. Don’t they have to say “you have been served?” The entire audience heard it.
That is so awful, there is no reason it couldn’t have happened before or after her time on stage. It is also concerning that someone was able to approach the stage and leave something on it without a single security person intervening.
I can think of a reason, she probably had a bodyguard or two with her who would have blocked the server from physically serving the papers to Wilde.
My point was they did this in the middle of the event, rather than wait until it was done and she was getting up to leave. If they were able to do it then, they could have waited until the end of the event.
But she wasn’t sitting in the audience like it was an award show. She went from backstage surrounded by security to onstage for her presentation to backstage surrounded by security when she was done.
I don’t know why it’s being said she was avoiding, because before being in LA for Coachella, she’s being in the UK for the past several months. And it’s not like she was hiding when she went to the states. The server showed up in Vegas at an industry event to serve papers, when it easily could have been done the two weeks she’s been in L.A. or handed to her lawyers. It’s also interesting that Jason filed in NY. It doesn’t matter what you think about her, keeping custody issues out of the press is better for the kids. I also wish people would stop acting like Jason is Ted Lasso in real life. It’s a character.
Yeah well this move ruined Ted Lasso for me. So scummy. I can cancel Apple TV now.
Have you watched Severance though? IMO the best reason to have Apple.
Why would this ruin Ted Lasso for you?? Jason isn’t who decided when/how she gets served.
They potentially can’t serve her in the UK and they wouldn’t necessarily know where she was staying for Coachella. Just because there are photos of her there doesn’t mean someone could get close enough to serve her. And this has more witnesses. It is likely a judge would not be happy if this was the first step in serving her papers so unless that law firm is super dumb, they have records of the other times they tried to serve her or contact her lawyers.
Sounds like CinemaCon doesn’t want backlash from people saying they should have intervened, as with the Academy for Will Smith.
It might be too late for that. There are two options; either the process server bought what I am sure from my convention days two decades ago is a very expensive ticket to get in, or CinemaCon gave them convention credentials after the process server told them exactly what was going to happen.
They aren’t responsible for the first option, the second is solely their responsibility. I can’t look away, this is such a shit show.
sudeikis was married to one of the women responsible for 30 rock.
he was a jerk to her, so they made his character into a jerk.
i don’t believe, for one second, this wasn’t intentional.
everyone gives seemingly nice white guys the benefit of the doubt.
this was meant to be an f u and it was.
Yes, and Olivia has made jokes about Asians and said a few homophobic jokes too. She was super close to Harvey Weinstein, like went on vacations with him close.
Jason has literally nothing to do with how it when she got served.
Someone’s been getting their information from Harry Styles fans. 95% of Hollywood and many politicians had ties to Harvey Weinstein. The joke about Asians, did not happen, it was a joke at the Oscar’s from Sasha baron cohen, in his ali g personna. The other jokes have been taken out of context. You don’t have to like Olivia, but don’t spread misinformation from a fandom that does nothing but spread information from a fandom that is unhinged anytime Harry is in a relationship.
To those saying Jason had nothing to do with how or when she got served, he literally filed the suit and is paying the lawyers. He literally caused it.
Process servers do not act without authorization from lawyers, and Jason is the one employing the lawyers. So I’m not buying him as some innocent random guy just observing. Maybe he was ignorant or careless, but he’s not unconnected to his own court filing, and he does not have “nothing to do with” this.
@Emma. Maybe this was the only way he could get her to discuss the custody of the children. I’m talking about filing the suit not her being served in public. It’s also possible she filed custody earlier and this is his lawyers response. None of us know what has transpired up to this point (as we shouldn’t).
All I have to say is that people are trying to make excuses and reasons for JS but I bet if the roles were reversed, Olivia would be blamed and called evil, jealous, monster or whatever people pull out to criticize women. But this came from the guy’s side, so it must have a reason for that being done that way, right (irony)?
If she did it to him I would assume he was being avoidant. Being avoidant is a tactic. She wants to live in LA, he wants to live in NY (see also his GQ interview and her True Botanicals / Vogue interview) , not accepting that a court has jurisdiction is a tactic. It is possible she wants to stall so she can try to establish LA as where they live. She apparently voted in NY in 2020 and all of them were in London for half the year last year before moving to LA for fall semester(which may have been a short term work related solution, like London) so this is probably a pretty complicated topic.
Someone paid money for this.
A celebrity gossip story that doesn’t involve the British Royal Family? Is it my birthday?
Give it time, someone in the royal rota or palaces will make this Meghan’s fault.
Or someone will hijack the comments to bring them up.
Liesel… that someone would be you 🙂
It actually IS my birthday and I thought the same thing. LOL
Happy Birthday!
Happy birthday @mle428!
I know, right?! I was pleasantly surprised.
Count me in.
Finally!!
Is this where I “honk” for more non-royal stories? HONK!
To all saying she must have avoided service, that’s totally untrue. Process servers can and will do this kind of stuff anyway sometimes.
Years ago, I got served the same papers for a lawsuit 3 times. I had received the papers by registered mail and by hand at home from a Process server. I signed for them twice so I was definitely not avoiding being served.
A process server came to my place of work and interrupted the class I was teaching to serve me the papers a third time. Infuriating. So my own experience says this doesn’t necessarily mean Olivia was avoiding service.
Oh wow. Either she has been avoiding being served or they used the laziest process server in the world who didn’t feel like tracking her down to find her? This isn’t Jason’s doing, having her served at a very public work event. I’m not saying he’s a saint but the decision to serve her when and where is out of his hands. But sounds like residency is the thing they’ve been fighting about since I guess Jason wants to live in NY and she wants to live in CA?
Lots of good perspective on being served and when/how. I think the timing of it is really interesting what with Harry’s new single out that starts with a child’s voice saying “come on Harry, we wanna say good night to you”.
“child’s voice saying “come on Harry, we wanna say good night to you”.”
That’s his goddaughter. I’m not even a fan and I saw that headline.
Could we cool it with the soap opera theories? I mean some people are on that this was some revenge tactic, others are on about that Harry is a homewrecker and she destroyed her family to get a young boy toy. It’s getting a bit ridiculous.
More likely she wants to live in one city, he wants to live in another. It happens. They’ll figure it out. And the kids interests will be the court priority, not them and not the boyfriend.
We could, but then it wouldn’t be very interesting if on a gossip site no one speculated ever.
LOL! Fair point.
I guess it’s my own thing that I can’t muster up a gossipy interest. I had and have no interest in him beyond Ted Lasso (which I do love) and I’ve disliked her acting in everything I’ve seen her in. That Booksmart movie was cute though.
@Mia, same. Booksmart was good and maybe she will be a well known director one day because her acting is not where her talents lie.
Thank you for all the legal perspectives… I remember seeing JS In his freakin hoodie on zoom at the Emmys and getting major manipulator vibes… the poor-me act just didn’t sit right. I think if he was really upset about this he would have released a longer statement, because this detracted from her moment as a director and could impact his career because it makes him look horrible and clashes with his professional persona. Never mind the event security, someone’s getting fired for that. Olivia could have been harmed.
Agreed. Let’s say roles were reversed and Jason was served papers while promoting Ted Lasso. I imagine the comments about Olivia would be horrid. JASON IS NOT TED LASSO. Was this some sort of revenge for how amazing HS was at Coachella? it hurt Jason’s ego? What. Sh*tty thing to do.
If Olivia was the one serving the papers the story would start a few steps back at “we tried to get Jason to agree to the proceedings and sign a waiver for service of process but he wouldn’t. We tried to get him to designate a lawyer on his behalf, he didn’t. We tried to serve him X other place but we couldn’t get him and we were running out of time before he left back to film in the UK. It’s regrettable it came to this but the custodial situation for the kids needs to be solidified and he needs to participate.” And people would have applauded her for it. – I don’t get why everyone is complaining about step 3 of this process when it could have been handled by her or her lawyers at an earlier stage. If this was step 1 he will forever be an asshole and no Ted Lasso S3 for me but she would have said by now if no one had reached out to her prior to Cinema Con. He’s speaking to actual news outlets- Variety, Deadline, the LA Times. She may just hint around with Us Weekly or something to muddy the waters, we will have to see.
He technically didn’t even release a statement. He had “sources close to” him comment on it. He didn’t actually attach his name to it or officially put one out.
Clients and lawyers don’t get too involved in service. My assistant does a memo to whatever process server is the closest to the person’s last known place of residence. We give them a deadline, and they handle the rest. The only time I’ve ever had to get involved in the actual when and where of personal service has been when the person was evading service, and we had to figure out some place we knew they’d be at a certain time. There is only a handful of documents that have to be personally served, most notably any originating process. You can get a court to order otherwise, or you can get the person to agree to let a lawyer accept service on their behalf (most lawyers don’t like doing it, and most clients won’t instruct us to because they want to make things difficult and more costly for the other side). So, I’m assuming that Jason must have initiated a lawsuit against Olivia now. Presumably because they couldn’t work something out. And she presumably was not cooperative in the service process. Cooperative defendants will get on the phone with process servers, in order to arrange time and place.
She had to be avoiding service. Process servers do not go to those lengths unless they’ve been stymied before. I should know. I had to get the sheriff’s department to serve my dad’s ex with custody papers because she ducked the process server and had her mother lie about her residency. Hate she was embarrassed at work, but she knew he was trying to serve her with those papers. Play stupid games. Win stupid prizes.
I’ve seen that happen before too. It’s unfortunate but some people feel avoiding something will make it go away or like making it more difficult. And you’re right, it’s just stupid games.
I see a lot of folks trying to make this make sense. The fact is, it was a very ugly thing to do—trying to take a woman down a peg. I’m done with Jason Sudeikis and Ted Lasso. Don’t need this.
I’m really confused by the people I’m seeing online attack Olivia claiming she was dodging court papers when pretty much everyone knew that she’s been at Coachella the last two weekends. She’s been photographed multiple times by paps and fans not just at concerts but restaurants as well; she’s not been hard to find.
I don’t buy that they couldn’t figure out where she was staying or where she was going when obviously a lot of people who don’t even personally know her were able to and she also flew back to London to spend one of her kids birthday with them and Jason last week. I don’t think Jason told the servers to do this to her in this way as the servers chose their methods but i hate the way his fans once again are attacking her as a mother acting and applying mischievous motivations to her.
The server would have to know which restaurant and at what time before she went. Same as with the Coachella situation. The server would have to know where she would be and when.
I’m a lawyer. This was wholly unnecessary and gross. The process server could have left the docs with a person in her household who is 18 years or older. Also at her place of business. Further, if Olivia was ducking the service, Jason’s lawyers could have filed a motion to have to courts declare service by public notice. I haven’t liked the way Sudeikis has moved throughout this entire proceeding. It’s giving abuser to me. And this comment section doesn’t have the best track record when it comes to women.
THIS!!!!
She doesn’t have a place of business so that’s not an option and according to her Vogue interview, her house in LA was a rental. There may not be a person 18 or older connected to her at any address she is associated with to accept the documents. In order to get the ruling re service by public notice you have to evidence all of the steps you took to serve the notice. Which means you have to try to serve it to her physically. She’s been out of the country for months (so has Jason). Presumably she stayed somewhere private for Coachella and traveled with Harry and Harry presumably has security. The fact that the process server couldn’t get to her to hand her papers at Coachella during two 90 minute windows a week apart is not surprising.
“She doesn’t have a place of business ”
She most likely has a business manager (handles more than just “business”). They receive legal documents all of the time. Probably her address with the IRS, too.
They would still have to be willing to accept the papers which they would not be if she doesn’t want them to. And under NYS law it has to be an actual place of business – “any location that the defendant, through regular solicitation or advertisement, has held out as its place of business”. I am not sure she has actually published where her manager, agent etc are or if their publishing it on her behalf meets the standard. I bet not because the idea is that the defendant has affirmatively identified it themselves.
That isn’t true. For example, her lawyers could accept it. We don’t know what the process has been. I’m truly hoping this was not their first move but there are a lot of sleazebags in the world and a lot of vindictive exes.
And yes, I’m sure she has lawyers and a business manager and a whole team. It would be spectacularly unusual for a Hollywood actress and director to have NO team.
Yes, thank you. It’s such a huge leap to put the blame for this on Olivia, and yet tons of people are making that unsubstantiated leap. It’s truly gross.
I’m so tired of women being bullied in public. Megan Thee Stallion earlier this week, now Olivia. It’s just gets me down after a while.
THIS 100%
I agree with this 100%
100%, @Insight.
I’m also a lawyer and when I have used process servers, they do not give me an option of exactly how they will do it. You get a time frame. This kind of public delivery is pretty old fashioned from the days when the paperwork had to be delivered by hand directly to the person. It could have been delivered to her house to a person of appropriate age & discretion. This drama wasn’t necessary but that doesn’t mean Jason arranged it this way.
I was a process server and there are only 2 reasons to serve someone in this way.
1. They are avoiding service to drag things out or hope that you give up, and you have tried literally everything else;
2. You are trash & want to shame, humiliate or punish someone for leaving you.
YMMV. This is just my experience.
Lawyers can agree to accept service on behalf of their clients, and usually do so precisely to avoid scenes like this. I’m truly shocked that wasn’t happening…and wonder if that means things are getting ugly. There are a million ways this could have been avoided. Maybe Olivia is hard to mail down but her personal or family court lawyer would not be.
I think you have to formally designate the lawyer / law firm as agent for service of process though, right? She could also have signed a waiver of service of process.
That’s not true. If it’s originating process that’s being served (usually the only thing really requiring personal service), lawyers aren’t technically on the record yet and can’t accept service unless their clients specifically direct them and they confirm in writing that they have authority to accept service. Unless I’m dealing with an institutional client that I trust, I never agree to accept service of statement of claim on their behalf. After claim initiated, everything else is served on lawyer of record and doesn’t have to be personally served. What’s weird here is that you can also serve pleading on anyone else at the person’s residence, so even if she weren’t home they could have figured out something else that didn’t involve this kind of public humiliation.
In a case where the person is living abroad and doesn’t have a permanent address in the US (she’s not been living in Brooklyn for awhile and her place in CA was a rental, according to her Vogue article), how would that work? She probably has lawyers for other proceedings, property split etc but they might not be authorized to accept service for this.
I mean it got ugly when he insisted on making a different break up timeline public and pushed the poor broken hearted man narrative while he was already sleeping with a new woman.
Could her lawyer have been served in NYC, where she & Jason primarily lived during their relationship? If not, what if she doesn’t have an attorney in California? How would that work? I’m asking because I don’t know how that works legally.
They are both questionable in how they have treated their past partners. He cheated on his wife and she left her first husband under shady circumstances. They should honestly get back together to save others from their shady behavior.
Yikes. Agreed.
Mr. Jaded’s lawyer had to serve divorce papers on his then estranged wife who had been evading it for a long time. His lawyer finally served them herself while on a trip to the city where she lived to give a speech. So it’s sort of a last ditch effort to spring them on someone who has deliberately been avoiding being served.
waiting to see if the MRA/Incel gang will use this as another pile-on v.s. women.
Shrugs, seems to me that this is a last resort option. These are people with money, just because you share custody doesn’t mean you see each other at drop offs, they have nannies and you can’t leave a summons/ papers in the hands of randoms in the household. This doesn’t mean that anyone has to take sides or make assumptions, it is what it is.
Lawyers only put down a service address in the summons. The process server works from there. A lawyer can accept service on the clients behalf only if the client authorizes it
If she evaded service then this process server probably went where he knew she would be and handed it to her directly. She is a public figure and her appearance was likely announced so she was on stage so was a sure thing
Kinda genius really.
Olivia must have known there were issues and she could have had her attorney contact Jason to waive service. Who knows but the server must have been thwarted to pull a stunt like this and other than the video showing her opening the envelope it could have been incomplete service by California rules of court. Dodging service is usually a mugs game. Just increases costs if you lose.
Divorce lawyer here – I read this story and i cant tell either way – was it the process server going rogue, Olivia avoiding service, Olivia’s lawyers refusing to accept service on her behalf, jS lawyers failing to instruct service company appropriately, JS being a jerk.
As a lawyer I never deal directly with the process server. I do discuss service with a client if there isn’t another lawyer representing the opposing party, and strategy of necessary. I usually pass the instructions on to my staff, who arranges with the process serving company. They rarely even speak to the individual process server.
You can’t make an assumption about what happens without knowing the facts and I think it’s silly to speculate who it was at this point. There just isn’t enough information.
I agree with the above poster how easily we slam other women without evidence. It’s the she was asking for it argument. I’m not a fan of either as not familiar with either one’s acting / back stories.
It was public humiliation for her. He said he didn’t intend it. So I’m not sure why so many are trying place blame on her. He didn’t say she’s avoiding it, she’s not saying he surprised me. It’s fun to gossip but be aware of what biases we have going into it.
I don’t see anyone slamming her, at best it is “her legal strategy was bad and did not work out for her”. She may say something yet but it’s 22 hours since the article about the contents of the legal papers appeared, if the response was “this was Mr. Sudeikis’ first attempt to make Ms Wilde aware of the proceedings, she has not been contacted in any way prior to this event and it is shocking (but not surprising) he would attempt to humiliate her in this manner” I think we would have heard it by now.
Attorneys hire a process server – they don’t give specific instructions .
I wouldn’t leap to the conclusion she was avoidant and I don’t believe he hired someone specifically to embarrass her.
Person gets served legal docs at work —it happens every day. If you take the celebrity out of it there’s not a lot to be outraged about .
Actually lawyers do give process servers specific instructions. We give the process servers all kinds of different info depending on the type of service we need.
Yikes. I don’t know enough about either of them to comment on whether this was done intentionally, as an act of revenge on Jason’s part, or about the legal aspects, but this just seems weird. Could this not have been avoided? Even with security around, I’m sure they could’ve found a way to give it to her off-stage. It’s not like they’re barrier-hopping weirdos who forced their way in, Their presence would’ve had to have been cleared, and there should be a way to verify that they were there on legitimate grounds.
Based on what little I know about the way official processes, in general, can sometimes work, it seems plausible to me that this was out of his hands. All he knew was that she was going to be served. The wheres and whens of it were probably not disclosed to him. Seems shady on the server’s part, not his.
I’m surprised they’re still having issues. It’s been a while since they were in the news. Thought they’d resolved all their differences and sorted that stuff out already. What a way to embarrass her.
I am glad obsessed with this story as well. It is absolutely shocking that Olivia was ambushed at a public event and it seems really out of character for Jason Sudeikis. If I were him, I would fire his attorneys and hire new ones.
Really hope they can sort this out privately for the best interest of their children.
It depends on the statutes and the practices where the court case is playing out. If the statute says “personal service” the process server must put the documents in that person’s hands. I work closely with a large legal process serving company in a large metro area. The process servers do not have time to find a person at a music festival or wait by their gate for days to catch them. If the attorneys know where the person is going to be at a given time they will ask the process server to serve them there. Remember if the law says “personal service” it can’t be served on her attorneys or an adult living in her home. It has to be served on her. I’m guessing this is not an amiable situation. That’s not to drag on either party. Just a guess.
Regardless of the circumstances leading up to it, I think it was a professional misstep. It was bound to create a headline both sides had to contend with, and the person delivering it should have known that when dealing with clients of that level of public profile. Now, Sudekis is forced to play defense and cleanse his hands publicly of his role in the matter since it just looks petty. If I was him, I’d be giving my lawyer team an earful over it.
American civil litigator here. There is NO WAY that a process server would do something like this without getting preapproval from the lawyers. There is NO WAY the lawyers would authorize a plan like this without getting the client’s blessing – and that is in a scenario where the parties are just regular folks, not internationally famous folks. There is ABSOLUTELY NO WAY Sudeikis didn’t authorize this, and folks in the entertainment industry will know that. The only question here is whether or not the situation warranted such a drastic course of action to get Wilde served. One or both parties is behaving incredibly badly, and that really sucks for their kids.