Yesterday, we talked about Olivia Wilde being served legal papers in the middle of her presentation of her upcoming film, Don’t Worry Darling, during CinemaCon. The legal eagles of LaineyGossip came out IN FORCE to discuss various scenarios of how this incredibly dramatic process server ended up serving Wilde while she was on stage—it took a lot of effort, so definitely wasn’t a coincidence!—and opinions are split 50/50 on whether or not Jason Sudeikis knew what would happen. There’s a hair to be split, though, because there is a difference between knowing your ex is going to be served, maybe even served in a specific city on a specific day, and knowing your ex is going to be ambushed in the middle of a professional event.
Unless and until we get more specific information, I’m giving Sudeikis the benefit of the doubt that he didn’t know the server was going to ambush Wilde, the same as I’m giving Wilde the benefit of the doubt that she was not actively dodging the papers. These are people who travel constantly and spend a lot of time at temporary addresses, they’re not as easy to pin down as those of us who tend to live in one place a long time and have the same working address for multiple years. One thing all the legal eagles agree on is that, given the transitory nature of actors’ lives and business, it’s amazing their lawyers didn’t try to work this out specifically because serving papers could be difficult. The assumption is that this must be a very contentious situation and the dramatic process server is just a symptom of the larger issues.
Also, the NYC-LA legal gossip pipeline LIT UP, as y’all lawyers are HUGE gossips and many of the bigger law firms have offices on both coasts, and everyone was trading intel. Popular topics include trying to ID the process server—is there some kind of award for ballsiest serve?; wondering what in the hell the lawyers were thinking, letting this play out so publicly; and, interestingly, a rumor that Sudeikis was inquiring about new representation. Changing lawyers mid-stream is a major hassle, but as I said yesterday, this makes HIM look bad, and he cannot be happy to bear the brunt of a decision of which he probably didn’t know the full extent.
It's going to be interesting to see what happens next. Maybe nothing. Maybe, as with their breakup, they’ll put a lid on the public fireworks and everything else sails under the radar. Maybe Sudeikis’s lawyers can the process server and/or her firm, or maybe Sudeikis cans his lawyers, which would be a pretty big sign that he really didn’t know what they intended to do in Vegas. If this was playing out in LA, TMZ would have runners posted at the courthouse, waiting to see what kind of paperwork comes through next to update the story, but Sudeikis’s reps are based in New York, so I don’t think this is a California case. TMZ’s court vultures might not be able to help us with this one.
