Jason Sudeikis opens up about his split from Olivia Wilde, hitting ‘rock bottom’

True to his unflinchingly optimistic character from “Ted Lasso,” Jason Sudeikis has adopted a positive outlook on his high-profile split from longtime partner Olivia Wilde.

In a new interview with GQ magazine, the “Saturday Night Live” alum, who grew up in Overland Park, opened up about hitting “rock bottom” around the time of the breakup, which he said occurred in November. He and the “Booksmart” director, with whom he shares two children, Otis and Daisy, were together for seven years.

“I’ll have a better understanding of why in a year, and an even better one in two, and an even greater one in five,” he said in a profile published Tuesday for GQ’s August issue. “It’ll go from being … a book of my life to becoming a chapter to a paragraph to a line to a word to a doodle.

“That’s an experience that you either learn from or make excuses about. You take some responsibility for it, hold yourself accountable for what you do, but then also endeavor to learn something beyond the obvious from it.”

The interview was published right before Emmy Award nominations were announced, with “Ted Lasso” up for a whopping 20 honors, including best comedy series and best actor, for Sudeikis.

When the Apple TV+ series premiered last August, viewers were quick to draw similarities between the personal lives of the actor and his happy-go-lucky character.

In the sports comedy, Sudeikis portrays a peppy American football coach who is unexpectedly recruited to manage a British football (as in soccer) club while going through a rocky period with his wife.

Speaking to GQ, Sudeikis acknowledged the connection to his real-life relationship with Wilde, who helped him expand on the premise for “Ted Lasso.”

It was over dinner with Wilde that the comedian first “riffed” on the idea that “marital strife” should be the reason his character decided to leave his family in America and pursue new opportunities in England, to give the relationship some space.

“I wonder if that’s true,” he said, when asked about his own life eventually imitating his art. “I mean, isn’t that just a little bit of what Oprah was telling us for years and years? You know, manifestation? Power of thought? That’s ‘The Secret’ in reverse, you know?”

If divided into a Venn diagram, Sudeikis mused, all his “personal stuff” and “professional stuff” would resemble a flat circle.

“And yet one has nothing to do with the other. That’s the crazy thing,” Sudeikis added. “The (story of ‘Ted Lasso’ is) bigger than that, I hope. And anything I’ve gone through, other people have gone through. That’s one of the nice things, right? So it’s humbling in that way.”

Shortly after Wilde was first romantically linked to rumored boyfriend Harry Styles — who stars in her upcoming sophomore film, “Don’t Worry Darling” — Sudeikis wore a tie-dye hoodie to the Golden Globe Awards, prompting speculation and a few cruel memes about his emotional state.

After winning an award for his “Ted Lasso” performance, the actor delivered a long, meandering acceptance speech, prompting some to wonder if he was high, heartbroken or both during the virtual ceremony.

The sweatshirt was actually from his sister Kristin’s New York dance studio, Forward–Space, which was printed on the rainbow fabric. (She’s an alum of Miller Marley School of Dance and Voice in Overland Park.) And Sudeikis, it should be remembered, was up in the middle of the night, London time, in the thick of shooting season two of “Ted Lasso.”

“I wore that hoodie because I didn’t wanna f— wear the f— top half of a Tom Ford suit” over Zoom, he told GQ. “I love Tom Ford suits. But it felt weird as s—.”

“I was neither high nor heartbroken,” he clarified.

The GQ interview isn’t all about the breakkup. Sudeikis talks about his early forays into comedy, doing improv at ComedySportz and coming this close to becoming a member of the Blue Man Group. (In the end, he wasn’t a good enough drummer.)

With “Ted Lasso” heavily favored in the Emmy Award comedy categories, Sudeikis discussed his approach to moving forward after experiencing hardship.

“I think if you have the opportunity to hit a rock bottom, however you define that, you can become 412 bones or you can land like an Avenger,” he said. “I personally have chosen to land like an Avenger.”

Season two of “Ted Lasso” premieres July 23 on Apple TV+.

The Star’s Sharon Hoffmann contributed.

This story was originally published July 14, 2021 at 10:51 AM.