After being together for nearly two years, many Harry and Olivia fans are wondering: Why did Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde break up?
On November 18, 2022, People reported that the “As It Was” singer and the Booksmart director had called it quits for now. Multiple sources confirmed to the outlet that the two were “taking a break.” The ex-couple confirmed their romance in January 2021 after they attended Harry’s manager Jeffrey Azoff’s wedding together in Montecito, California, where Styles referred to Wilde as his “girlfriend” in his wedding speech, according to Us Weekly. The two became a couple after Harry starred in Olivia’s movie Don’t Worry Darling. A source told Us Weekly in July 2021 that Harry and Olivia were “smitten” with each other.
So after lots of publicity and speculation about this relationship, why are they taking a break? Read below to see why Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde broke up.
Why did Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde break up?
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Why did Harry Styles and Olivia Wilde break up? According to the sources from People, it’s because they’re in two different parts of their lives. One source People that Harry’s Love On Tour affected the status of their relationship. “He’s still touring and is now going abroad. She is focusing on her kids and her work in L.A.,” a source said. “It’s a very amicable decision.” The Don’t Worry Darling star and director are still “very very close friends.” However, their careers and family life are in two distinct places. “Right now, they have different priorities that are keeping them apart,” another source dished.
According to an insider quoted in Us Weekly, Olivia was “still very much upset about the breakup” and that she was trying to “move on” by taking a girl’s trip. “Olivia thought going on vacation would allow her to decompress,” the insider said. This sentiment was backed up by a source quoted by People, who said: “The break has been difficult for Olivia. They have had some issues, but Olivia thought they were gonna work through it all. She is disappointed. It’s just a tricky situation, though.”
Since the news broke, people close to Olivia and Harry have been providing reasons for their relationship breakdown. “The public pressure on them has been difficult,” a friend of the ex-couple told People. “They’ve had ups and downs throughout the relationship.” The main tabloid allegation that revolved around the ex-couple was that Olivia cheated on her then-fiance Jason Sudeikis with Harry while filming her second directorial project. The two started dating on the set of their movie Don’t Worry Darling where Olivia directed and Harry starred. At the time, Olivia was still engaged. Olivia and the Ted Lasso star were together from 2011 until November 2020. The couple got engaged in 2013 and share two children together: Otis, 8, and Daisy, 5.
Olivia talked about how the ongoing rumors of her relationship affected her in a Vogue profile. “It’s obviously really tempting to correct a false narrative,” she said. “But I think what you realize is that when you’re really happy, it doesn’t matter what strangers think about it. All that matters to you is what’s real, and what you love, and who you love.”
Olivia finally put the cheating rumors to rest when she described it as “complete horse shit” in a Vanity Fair cover profile. “Our relationship was over long before I met Harry. Like any relationship that ends, it didn’t end overnight. Unfortunately, Jason and I had a very bumpy road, and we officially dissolved the relationship towards the beginning of the pandemic,” she said at the time. “We were raising two kids during lockdown, so we co-parented through that time. Once it became clear that cohabitating was no longer beneficial for the children, it became the responsible thing to NOT, because we could be better parents as friends who lived in different houses.”
While on stage presenting Don’t Worry Darling in front of 3,000 audience members at CinemaCon in Las Vegas on April 27, 2022, Olivia was interrupted by a woman to give her a manila envelope labeled “Personal and Confidential.” “This is for me?” Olivia questioned, commenting about how the envelope was “very mysterious” before telling the crowd that she was “going to open it now because it feels like it’s a script.” When she opened the envelope and saw they were custody papers from Jason, Olivia put the papers back in the envelope and said, “OK, got it. Thank you.” She continued her presentation on Don’t Worry Darling and didn’t talk about the envelope again.
In court documents obtained by Us Weekly on August 10, 2022, Jason wrote: “I did not want service to take place at the home of Olivia’s current partner because Otis and Daisy might be present,” referring to Harry. “I did not want service to take place at the children’s school because parents might be present.” Jason then apologized to Olivia for ruining her talk. “I understand that the process server had only done her job; however, I deeply regret what happened,” he said. “Olivia’s talk was an important event for Olivia, both professionally and personally, and I am very, very sorry that the incident marred her special moment.”
Harry, Olivia and Jason were also victims of rumors from an alleged nanny who detailed how Olivia left Jason. Things allegedly reached a breaking point when Olivia left the house with a salad with her “special dressing” to give to the “As It Was” singer. “The night she left with her salad, Jason had chased after her, videotaping her in the house,” she recalled. “She was saying: ‘I’m scared of you, Jason, I’m scared of you.’ And he said: ‘If you’re scared of me, why are you leaving your kids with me? So then, Jason went outside and lay under her car so she wouldn’t leave. She got in her car to back up, he lay under her car so she wouldn’t leave.” The nanny continued, “He said he was doing it on purpose to make her late going to see Harry.” It was the last straw for the SNL alum. “Out of everything, he was like, ‘She made her special salad dressing and took it to him.’” Olivia retaliated the rumor by posting a recipe for the salad dressing from Nora Ephron’s book Heartburn on her Instagram stories.
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