Olivia Wilde Recalls "Parasocial" Hate Over Her Age Gap With Harry Styles
"People were f*cking pissed."
Olivia Wilde is clearing up some serious misconceptions about her relationship with Harry Styles. The actor/director famously dated the pop star throughout 2021 and 2022, a particularly drama-filled time for both of them. Between a contentious custody battle, inescapable set drama rumors, and some really unexpected salad dressing controversy (not to mention “Spit-gate”) — the relationship seemed to be flooded in chaos. But according to Wilde, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
Wilde reflected on the high-profile relationship, which ended in 2022, during her June 17 appearance on the Call Her Daddy podcast. She emphasized how disorienting it was to constantly see her connection with Styles be portrayed as a source of mayhem. “I’ve never felt more disconnected from the person that people were talking about. I was like, ‘Who are they talking about? Who is that girl?’” Wilde said. “It was also very strange to see complete fiction traded as fact. My private life was very far from it and very actually wholesome and sweet.”
In particular, Wilde was thrown off by the vitriol she saw over the fact that she was dating someone 10 years younger. “It really did upset people,” Wilde said. “It was crazy, I don’t know how much I understand it yet ... People were f*cking pissed.”
Pointing out that a lot of this treatment stemmed from “the parasocial relationship people have with [Styles],” Wilde was still perplexed by how her own joy could inadvertently cause such an uproar.
“It’s almost like [our] happiness made them mad,” Wilde said. “Like, I would go to his shows and dance, and people were like, ‘Oh, how could she?'”
In spite of all the negative chatter, Wilde said she and Styles were able to find peace and love by tuning out the rest of the world. “We had the loveliest relationship — so, so sweet and so beautiful and really actually very domestic and kind and lovely,” Wilde said. “We existed in this little bubble, and the judgment never really got into that bubble, which was a miracle and testament to us to making that happen.”
