Olivia Wilde posing confidently during a press event.
Surviving the Internet Garbage Disposal
Olivia Wilde is finally breathing easy on the press circuit.
A few years removed from the highly controversial promotion of Don’t Worry Darling, the director and actress admits she feared stepping back into the public eye. Speaking on The Louis Theroux Podcast, Wilde confessed she worried about experiencing PTSD after the relentless scrutiny of her last major project.
Olivia Wilde looking directly at the camera against a dark background.
The Damage to ‘Don’t Worry Darling’
Her previous press tour was heavily overshadowed by rumors of on-set tension with Florence Pugh, Wilde’s relationship with Harry Styles, and the messy departure of Shia LaBeouf. Wilde believes the chaotic media narrative ultimately undermined the movie itself.
“I think it did hurt the film for sure because we didn’t get to have the conversations about what the film was trying to say,” Wilde told Theroux. She noted that the cast and crew worked tirelessly during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic, only for their efforts to be eclipsed by gossip.
Wilde admitted she was naive about the harsh realities of internet culture at the time. She described the online space as a “garbage disposal” that thrives on feeding audiences context-free headlines.
“It is interesting to witness a tornado from the inside,” she explained. “But now I look back and I think, Oh, the people were being given headlines without context, and it’s a natural instinct to start trying to fill those in.”
Finding Peace with ‘The Invite’
Returning to the media spotlight to promote her new project, The Invite, brought unexpected relief. Wilde admitted she initially questioned whether the new press cycle would trigger her past anxieties.
Instead, the experience has been entirely different. For the first time in years, reporters are engaging with her about her actual work rather than dissecting her personal life.
“I find that the conversations around The Invite are so wonderfully interesting to me, and I’ve actually been allowed to have them,” Wilde said. “So, it’s been actually kind of healing because I understand that it’s not always a garbage disposal.”
