Olivia Wilde currently seems to be one of the internets most hated women, but… why? Olivia’s last two years have been MESSY. She was caught sweet-talking accused abuser Shia LaBeouf and demeaning her female star Florence Pugh, all while touting her film Don’t Worry Darling’s grand feminist aspirations. To make matters worse, the film… wasn’t very good. Oh, and don’t forget the B-Plot of her long-term relationship with Jason Sudeikis crumbling in a highly public manner while Olivia had moved on with Harry Styles. These overlapping storylines became the internet’s favorite reality show, and Olivia Wilde was deemed the villain. Depending on who you ask, they might say she’s a cool girl, a rich kid, a nepo baby, a try-hard, or a pick-me. So how did Olivia Wilde become the Internet’s Most Hated Woman– and are there any darker agendas at play?
TRANSCRIPTION
Right now, the top spot for the Internet’s Most Hated Woman is held by multi-hyphenate talent, Olivia Wilde. So, how did she earn the title? Well, turns out, if you want millions of women and girls everywhere to cyberbully you, date and then split from a younger pop star with the most zealous fans.
celebriteablinds: “I guess she’s not missing harry styles, they do say the best way to get over someone is to get under someone else.” – TikTok
Olivia’s last two years have been MESSY. She was caught sweet-talking accused abuser Shia LaBeouf and demeaning her female star Florence Pugh, all while touting her film Don’t Worry Darling’s grand feminist aspirations. To make matters worse, the film…wasn’t very good. Oh, and don’t forget the B-Plot of her long-term relationship with Jason Sudeikis crumbling in a highly public manner while Olivia had moved on with Harry Styles.
These overlapping storylines became the internet’s favorite reality show, and Olivia Wilde was deemed the villain. Making matters worse, Wilde’s personality is also a dream come true for online trolls, stans, and hot take factories – because with her penchant for semi-provocative behavior and edgy comments that don’t always land, anyone can find something about her to hate.
Olivia Wilde: “He can say he quit and you fired him and both of you can think you’re right - It’s a question of semantics” – The Late Show
Depending on who you ask, they might say she’s a cool girl, a rich kid, a nepo baby, a try-hard, or a pick-me. They call her an adulteress, cougar, or bad mom. A feminist, a white feminist, or a fake feminist, even a predator. In somewhat of a perfect storm, the young girls who love Harry Styles and the right-wing trolls who hate progressive women joined forces to take her down. So how did Olivia Wilde become the Internet’s Most Hated Woman– and are there any darker agendas at play?
After Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime performance, Olivia Wilde was accused of thirsting for Rihanna’s man – because she shared an Instagram story of A$AP Rocky filming the show, captioning it, ““If I thought he was hot before, this really put me over the edge.” The next day Wilde clarified, ““For anyone who got it twisted… it’s hot to respect your partner”. But the damage was already done. Tweets and tiktoks called her shameless, embarrassing, inappropriate, messy, cringey, crazy.
Wasn’t this reaction maybe a bit out of proportion? Of course it was – but at this point, the internet’s hatred for Olivia was fully formed. Anything she does will get dragged online.
Wilde wasn’t always the internet’s favorite punching bag, though. Before she was the internet’s most hated woman, Olivia began as the hot, cool actress, and briefly reigned as a feminist hero director. Let’s rewind:
Wilde was born into an upper-class family of famous journalists and writers. Her mom even ran for Congress. At 19, she married the son of an actual Prince. She began acting in the early 2000s, and quickly became one of Hollywood’s go-to “hot girls” of the next decade, akin to Megan Fox or Minka Kelly. In 2017, Maxim wrote “we’ve all had a crush on her for the last decade,” and she topped their Hot 100 list in 2009. She played “hot bisexual bartender”, “hot doctor”, “hot princess”, and “hot assistant slash temptress”.
Then she went on to challenge this typecasting off-screen. In 2014, she was described as “your new favorite celebrity feminist”, using the label when many celebs still skirted it. She spoke out about equal pay, representation and double standards in Hollywood before it was normalized.
Olivia Wilde: “...It’s really hard to get stories made that are about women…not just women being obsessed with men or supporting men.” – The State Of Female Justice: Los Angeles With GRITtv
She got political, supporting Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2015, and The Women’s Marches in 2017 and 2018. Then, in 2019, after acting in nearly 40 films, Wilde made her directorial debut with the commercially modest but critically acclaimed film Booksmart. She was hailed as a feminist hero and the future of female directors. Her relationship with SNL-alum Jason Sudeikis raised her social capital even further. Getting together in 2011, they quickly became one of Hollywood’s #couplegoals. The funny guy and the beautiful, but crucially also funny, girl.
With her decade-long romance, two adorable children, and celebrated film, she seemed to be on top of the world. But then, she became the focus of two groups of people you don’t want to be on the wrong side of – Harry Styles stans, and far-right internet trolls. Together, these legions manufactured a take-down that spread like wildfire.
In late 2020, Olivia cast Harry Styles in Don’t Worry Darling. Harry-stans were ecstatic, until rumors of a relationship started swirling in January. Cue: fandom meltdown. Normally, a woman can expect a fair amount of hate when dating a popstar. But the level of vitriol in Olivia’s case was fueled by the fact that she was ten years older, was his director, and was a recently single mother of two young children.
She also didn’t split from just anyone, she split from Ted freaking Lasso. Sudeikis’s image was intertwined so closely with the warm, positive character, that people without question took his side in the split. Here, the misogyny really stands out –the internet solely blamed her for their separation, labeling her a cheater, cougar, and a famewhore without truly knowing the details. Every Harry account seemed determined to dredge up all of Olivia’s skeletons to poke holes in their relationship or force them to break-up.
juliacarolann: “What do you think it feels like being Olivia Wilde right now, walking through the streets of NYC knowing that most of the people you’re walking by would chop off their arms and legs to date your boyfriend?” – TikTok
One user accused her of using blackface for excessive tanning in a photoshoot. The same thread went after her for wearing a James Brown tee shirt. She was called a pedophile and abuser for an off-color joke about children ice-skating and was accused of “grooming” Styles. In their narrative, Styles was the naïve victim, who had fallen prey to Wilde by means of the uneven director/star power dynamic. The Tumblr tag #fauxlivia, and the twitter hashtag #timesupolivia went viral. Blogs posted photos of her posing with Brett Ratner, and Kevin Spacey to prove that she “attracts offenders”. Some ludicrously suggested that she served as an accomplice to Weinstein in luring victims. Slut-shaming was also rampant, with fans leaking nudes and sharing deep-fake sexual videos.
The fandom’s cause was heavily intensified and spread amidst the Don’t Worry Darling drama. After rumors swirled of a falling-out with Florence Pugh, the media couldn’t get enough of this supposed woman-on-woman “feud”. Page Six reported that Pugh wasn’t happy with the “unprofessional” relationship between Harry and Olivia, and that it affected her directing. The same article suggested that Harry and Olivia’s relationship was an affair. Later, Pugh criticized being “reduced” to sex scenes, while Wilde had loudly celebrated the depiction of sex as one of the feminist angles of the film. In August 2022, Wilde doubled down on her claim that she fired Shia LeBeouf from the lead role because of her “no assholes policy” – positioning herself as a woman looking out for other women, namely, Pugh. But then, two days later, Shia said he quit and Olivia recorded herself begging him to reconsider.
In the leaked video, Wilde seemed to shift the blame and stated that it was time for a wake up call for…
Olivia Wilde: “Miss Flo” – Twitter
The Don’t Worry Darling drama was basically the internet’s dream come true. TikTok’s for you page became DWD reality show, with episodes, storylines, and characters. At the same time, the media took advantage of the anti-Olivia train through their coverage of her split. In October, the Daily Mail published exhaustive tea about Olivia and Jason’s breakup, courtesy of the former nanny. The main takeaway? Not that Harry was a homewrecker, but that Olivia was the devil.
Because of these multiple simultaneous narratives where Olivia was cast as the villain against Sudeikis, Pugh, and Styles, the internet then looked for bias-affirming material of Wilde online – and there was plenty Some comments on a pop culture reddit include: “Something about her has always bothered me”. “She’s a try-hard and a performative cool-girl”, “she has major I have sex” vibes. She’s called a “pick-me”, “just another nepo-baby” and the “type of girl who shows up in a bikini talking about the burger she just ate”. “She makes sexual comments to seem edgy” and “always slips in how she was married to a prince.” She’s “obviously grabbing for attention by attending Harry’s concerts” “Who supports a woman who allegedly hasn’t seen her kids since she broke up with their father?”.
Wilde was called classless and ungrateful for saying she’s made about 5000 “shitty movies” but that they helped her define herself as a director. She was shamed for speaking about the fun her grandparents had in 1950s, with trolls pointing out how horrible the decade was for so many. She was shamed for comparing making the move from acting to directing to coming out of the closet. Tweet after tweet called her insensitive, disgusting, homophobic. And after she said that Booksmart was the first job she had not connected to her looks, many dragged her for “complaining about her career” and “pretty privilege”. Some even began comparing her to another hated woman on the internet.
Before the Anne-Hatha-sscance, there was the infamous era of Hatha-hate. Since Hathaway, other female celebrities have faced the cold shoulder of the web and contended for the Internet’s Most Hated Woman title, including Gwyneth Paltrow, Millie Bobby-Brown, Greta Thunberg, and Amber Heard.
Like a number of these women, Olivia Wilde was politically active, outspoken, and attractive. The nail in the coffin was when Wilde called Jordan Peterson, an enormous figure in conservative circles, “this pseudo-intellectual hero to the incel community”. This was the far-right’s chance to take-down Wilde – an outspoken liberal, feminist, and female director. With the Harry stans, Ted Lasso fans, and TikTok fanatics behind them, they could push it even further.
Steven Crowder: “How about you do your research Olivia? I know it’s tough.” – Louder With Crowder
Media Matters found that in just one three-week period in September, there were over 300 posts on right-leaning Facebook pages about Wilde, with over 200,000 interactions. Right-wing hubs like The Daily Wire, Breitbart, Gab, Rumble and Telegram joined in. Headlines referred to her as a “Woketard”, “disgraced”, the “queen of crazy”. Media Matters saw terms like “commie whore,” “Hollywood harlot,” and “bimbo” used to describe Wilde. So while Wilde may have genuinely been pretty unlikable in this period to your average consumer, it’s clear that outlets like these explicitly exploited the situation to get traction on social media.
Meanwhile, It’s all too obvious that Olivia would never face this level of hate if she were a man.
When male filmmakers fall in love with their stars, it’s seen as a romantic or just a cliché, as if men can’t really help themselves. Here are just some revered directors who fell for their actresses while filming: Martin Scorsese, Stanley Kubrick, Elia Kazan, Roberto Rossellini, Joel Cohen, Billy Wilder, John Carpenter, Charlie Chaplin, Paul Thomas Anderson, David Lynch, Ben Stiller, Ridley Scott, Peter Bogdonavich, Danny Boyle, Tim Burton.
Both Steven Spielberg and James Cameron had on-set romances with women who were not their wives at the time. If anything, in many of these situations, it’s the younger woman who’s historically judged for breaking up a home. Yet when Olivia fell for Harry, it was seen as predatory and deeply threatened her credibility as a director.
learning_with_love: “...Already we’ve got a lot of power things in play / you’ve got one actor who’s directing scenes of intimacy involving an actor that they’re in a personal relationship with.” – Everything Wrong With Harry Styles & Olivia Wilde’s Sick “Don’t Worry Darling”
Then there’s the age difference that Olivia was dragged for but which is only under scrutiny when it’s the woman who’s older. Demi Moore was labeled a cougar, Aaron Taylor Johnson’s wife is referred to online as “Granny” and a “Groomer”, Priyanka Jonas was called a “global scam artist”. But the couples we do accept? George and Amal who have a 17-year-age-difference. Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta Jones? 25 years. Dennis Quaid is nearly 40 years older than his wife. Leo doesn’t date anyone born in the last century.
And oh yeah, Jerry Seinfeld dated a high schooler during the height of his fame. It also goes without saying that a male director wouldn’t be accused of abandoning their children for their work or a new relationship.The point here isn’t that Wilde isn’t easy to dislike right now – but that there’s also a huge cultural and commercial incentive to find attractive, liberal female targets to collectively hate online.
Meghan Markle was famously bombarded with death threats, hate and racist headlines by widely circulating publications. And right now, the most gripping pop culture story of the moment is a narrative of petty-mean-girl behavior pitting Selena Gomez against Kylie Jenner and Hailey Bieber and tearing apart all three women in the process.
Olivia Wilde personifies the rise and fall narrative that so many people love to latch onto for beautiful famous women. Even today, Olivia and Harry have broken up, but the negative headlines and takes haven’t stopped. She’s now being written about as Styles’ scorned ex, how she “resents” him, and is “desperate to reconcile”.
limitliss: “I probably would be hurt too if I dated someone for 2 years, had their entire fan base attack me (including me) for 2 years and they never even publicly claimed me.” – TikTok
Olivia can lay low and try to atone all she wants, but what we know for sure is the internet won’t move on until they’ve found the next woman to hate.
SOURCES:
Donaldson, Kayleigh. “Why Do Harry Styles Fans Hate Olivia Wilde?” Yahoo!, Yahoo!, 2023,
Lent, Caitlin. “Olivia Wilde Needs to Be in Charge.” Interview Magazine, 6 Oct. 2022, https://www.interviewmagazine.com/film/olivia-wilde-needs-to-be-in-charge.
Stern, Marlow. “Why Is Olivia Wilde Getting Dragged Harder than David O. Russell?” The Daily Beast, The Daily Beast Company, 30 Sept. 2022, https://www.thedailybeast.com/why-is-olivia-wilde-getting-dragged-harder-than-david-o-russell.
Thatcher, Boyd .f67943c9-aee5-4b4c-9cf0-7bd937c850f4{fill:#82b964;} fact checked by Jamie Frater, et al. “10 Brilliant Directors Who Were Notoriously Cruel.” Listverse, 29 Oct. 2020, https://listverse.com/2017/06/30/10-brilliant-directors-who-were-notoriously-cruel/.
“Why Does It Seem like so Much of the Internet Hates Olivia Wilde?” VICE, 13 Sept. 2022, https://www.vice.com/en/article/93aq4p/olivia-wilde-dont-worry-darling-internet-comments?utm_source=reddit.com.