Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis sued by ex-nanny who dished about breakup
Olivia Wilde and Jason Sudeikis are being sued by a nanny who got caught up in — and was fired during — the messy breakup of their relationship.
Ericka Genaro, who according to the lawsuit had worked as nanny to the former couple's two kids since 2018, is accusing Sudeikis, Wilde and ML Management LLC of discrimination and failure to accommodate her disability under the state of California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA). They are also being accused of retaliation as described under the act and of failure to engage in the “in- teractive process” required.
The lawsuit, filed Tues- day with the Los Angeles Superior Court and reviewed by The Times, repeats many of the allegations that were made in a two-part Daily Mail interview published last October.
Sudeikis and Wilde's joint response Tuesday was the same statement they issued in response to that interview:
“As parents, it is incredibly upsetting to learn that a former nanny of our two young children would choose to make such false and scurrilous accusations about us publicly,” the statement said in October. “Her now 18 month long campaign of harassing us, as well as loved ones, close friends and colleagues, has reached its unfortunate apex. We will continue to focus on raising and protecting our children with the sincere hope that she will now choose to leave our family alone.”
Genaro's lawsuit places her at the center of the couple's breakup, which began
quietly and then gained wide attention when Wilde began a relationship with singer-actor Harry Styles, the star of her directorial effort “Don't Worry Darling.”
After Wilde “abruptly” left the home she had shared with Sudeikis and the children in November 2020, Genaro's “anxiety from the situation in the ... household became close to unbearable,” the lawsuit says, as Sudeikis allegedly leaned on Genaro's presence “for support.” Genaro's role in the children's lives increased “exponentially” as she was asked to spend time with them on the weekends when Wilde normally would have been around, the suit says.
Genaro “became increasingly anxious and stressed” with the “Ted Lasso” star's tendency to “seemingly require [her] to stay up at night after the kids were put to bed to talk,” which he hadn't done
before Wilde's departure, the lawsuit says. Late in the month, according to the lawsuit, Genaro decided to confide in Wilde about Sudeikis' conversations and her anxiety and stress, only to learn days later — as she, Sudeikis and the kids were heading to London — that Wilde had told her former partner what the nanny had shared.
The actors and Genaro agreed months later to participate in group therapy with a therapist who also counseled Genaro individually, the document says.
In the lawsuit, Genaro alleges she told Sudeikis in mid-January about her “anxiety, stress and physical pain” related to their breakup. On Feb. 1, Genaro says, she told Sudeikis that her osteopath had advised her to stop working for the couple for health reasons, though she offered to stay on for up to five months to give them time to hire a new nanny.
A day later, her osteopath
advised an anxietyridden Genaro to require three days of “radio silence” from all parties, sharing that information with the therapist who told Sudeikis, the lawsuit says.
“Rather than honor the restriction of a three day leave of absence from the Osteopath, within hours Sudeikis demanded to speak with Plaintiff immediately. When Plaintiff responded she is under the Osteopath's orders to not speak with anyone because of her anxiety, Sudeikis terminated her on the spot, and directed MLM to get Plaintiff out of his house and into a hotel,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiff reached out to Wilde for support in an attempt to for help to merely have her restrictions honored, to no avail.”
Asking for a jury trial, Genaro is seeking general and punitive damages, lost wages plus interest, and payment of medical and legal expenses.