If you were online in the fall of 2022, you couldn't escape it. The "Spitgate" videos. The "Miss Flo" leaked clips. The endless TikTok sleuthing over a specific salad dressing recipe. At the center of this hurricane was the Olivia Wilde Vanity Fair cover story, a piece of journalism that was supposed to be a victory lap for her film Don’t Worry Darling but instead became a flashpoint for every rumor imaginable.
Honestly, it's kinda wild looking back.
The interview, conducted by Maggie Bullock, arrived right as the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival. It was meant to set the record straight. Instead, it added fuel to a fire that was already burning through the foundations of Wilde's career and personal life. We’re talking about a moment where a director’s private life and professional choices became so entangled that the actual movie—a high-concept feminist thriller—almost felt like a footnote.
Why the Olivia Wilde Vanity Fair Interview Still Matters
We live in an era where celebrity PR is usually tightly controlled. You get the pre-approved quotes, the soft-focus photos, and the safe anecdotes. This wasn't that. Wilde spoke with a level of bluntness that you don't often see, particularly regarding her split from Jason Sudeikis and her relationship with Harry Styles.
People were obsessed with the timeline. They wanted to know: did she leave the Ted Lasso star for the world’s biggest pop star?
In the piece, Wilde didn't hold back. She called the idea that she left Sudeikis for Styles "complete horsesh*t." She was firm about the fact that her relationship with Sudeikis had ended long before she started dating Styles. According to her, the dissolution happened toward the beginning of the pandemic, and they spent months co-parenting while living together because, well, the world was shut down.
But the public wasn't buying it. Not entirely.
The "nanny leaks" happened shortly after, where a former employee claimed Sudeikis was blindsided and even allegedly threw himself under Wilde’s car to stop her from leaving with that now-infamous salad dressing. It sounds like a soap opera. Because it basically was.
The "Miss Flo" Controversy and the Shia LaBeouf Exit
If the relationship drama wasn't enough, the professional side was even messier. Wilde had previously told Variety that she fired Shia LaBeouf from Don’t Worry Darling to "protect" her lead actress, Florence Pugh. She described herself as a "mother wolf."
Then, Shia brought the receipts.
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He leaked a video to the press that Wilde had sent him, where she appeared to be begging him to stay on the project. In the video, she says, "I think this might be a bit of a wake-up call for Miss Flo."
By the time the Olivia Wilde Vanity Fair article hit newsstands, the "Miss Flo" nickname had become a meme. In the interview, Wilde tried to pivot. She praised Pugh’s performance as "astounding" and blamed the media for focusing on "baseless rumors." She argued that people don't often give women in power the benefit of the doubt.
She wasn't entirely wrong about the sexism. Male directors are often praised for being "difficult" or "demanding" on set. When a woman does it, or when there's friction on her set, it’s labeled a "catfight." Wilde was very conscious of this double standard.
The Reality of the Venice Film Festival Chaos
The Vanity Fair piece was released just as the cast landed in Venice. It was a PR nightmare. You had Florence Pugh skipping the press conference. You had Harry Styles allegedly spitting on Chris Pine (he didn't, but the internet spent 48 hours analyzing every frame of video).
Wilde’s quotes in Vanity Fair about her "No A--holes Policy" on set felt particularly pointed. She wanted the world to know she was creating a safe environment. But the "Miss Flo" video made her look like she was playing both sides.
- The Sudeikis Split: Wilde maintained the breakup happened in early 2020.
- The Harry Styles Connection: She insisted they met as professionals first.
- The Florence Pugh Tension: Wilde attributed it to Pugh’s busy schedule on Dune: Part Two.
It’s easy to forget that through all this, Wilde was also dealing with the fallout of being served custody papers while on stage at CinemaCon. She talked about that in the interview too. She called it a "vicious" move intended to disrupt her work. It was a rare moment where the public's sympathy actually shifted toward her.
What We Learned from the Fallout
Looking back on the Olivia Wilde Vanity Fair era, it’s a masterclass in how a narrative can escape a person’s control. Wilde tried to use the interview to reclaim her story. She wanted to be the visionary director. She wanted to be the protective mother. She wanted to be the woman who found love on her own terms.
But the internet had already decided on a different version.
The article remains a fascinating time capsule. It shows the tension between the "old school" celebrity profile—where the star gets to dictate the vibe—and the "new school" of social media sleuthing where every quote is checked against leaked texts and paparazzi timelines.
Actionable Insights for the Modern Media Consumer
If you're still dissecting the Wilde-Styles-Sudeikis triangle, here are a few things to keep in mind:
- Check the Source: Celebrity interviews are curated, but "anonymous sources" in tabloids often have their own agendas. The truth usually lies somewhere in the messy middle.
- Understand the PR Cycle: Vanity Fair covers are planned months in advance. The drama that erupted during the Don't Worry Darling press tour wasn't something the magazine could have fully predicted when they booked the shoot.
- Separate the Art from the Drama: If you haven't actually watched the movie, do it. Much of the criticism of Wilde's directing was colored by the tabloid headlines rather than the technical merits of the film itself.
Olivia Wilde has since moved on to new projects, and the heat has mostly died down. But that September 2022 cover remains one of the most talked-about moments in recent pop culture history. It was the moment the "dream life" of Hollywood's "it couple" met the harsh reality of a public that loves a scandal more than a success story.