Split frame of actress Olivia Wilde and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
Olivia Wilde is not holding back on her current view of Elon Musk. During a recent sit-down on The Louis Theroux Podcast, the director and actress detailed a surprising early encounter with the Tesla CEO. She recalled meeting the billionaire long before his deep political ties to the Trump administration were forged.
Split frame of actress Olivia Wilde and tech billionaire Elon Musk.
A Tour of SpaceX
Wilde crossed paths with the billionaire “many, many years ago” when SpaceX first established its Los Angeles headquarters. Driven by a personal desire to see the rocket ships, she secured a tour of the facility.
At the time, Musk showed interest in a charitable organization Wilde worked with in Haiti. The group focused heavily on building schools and hospitals in the region.
“He was quite interested in donating money and, I believe he did donate a little bit of money, and that’s appreciated,” Wilde explained.
“Turned Into This Creature”
Despite the philanthropic gesture, Wilde admitted she felt “kind of confused by him” during their early interactions. She noted that he appeared incredibly smart, but she never anticipated his current trajectory.
Today, her perspective has drastically hardened. Wilde stated she met the tech mogul “before he turned into this creature,” offering a blunt assessment of her current feelings.
“I really resent him now,” she said. “I really deeply resent him.”
She pointed to Musk’s ongoing fixation with an “underpopulation crisis” as evidence of a deeper issue. Wilde likened this mindset to a deep-rooted, modern misogyny driven by men who inherently believe they are “more powerful than nature.”
Tackling the Manosphere on Screen
Wilde’s critical lens on male dominance extends heavily into her filmmaking. Reflecting on her 2022 psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling, she confirmed that conservative commentator Jordan Peterson directly inspired Chris Pine’s villainous character.
While she acknowledged it might have been “unfair” to label Peterson a “pseudo-intellectual,” she stood by her broader concerns. Wilde described being disturbed by a “misogynistic philosophy” that was being weaponized in a way that helped elect Donald Trump twice.
She continues to explore these uncomfortable gender dynamics in her latest project, the sex comedy The Invite. Starring alongside Seth Rogen, Wilde uses the film to dissect the unspoken, often toxic expectations of marital desire.
In one pivotal scene, Rogen’s character tells his wife she is simply supposed to want him. Wilde views this sense of entitlement to a partner’s attraction as a direct pipeline to a much darker cultural phenomenon.
“You married me, and that makes me feel entitled to you being attracted to me,” Wilde said, explaining the character’s mindset. “I mean, woah, does that veer into the manosphere incel conversation.”
