Jason Sudeikis and his ex-partner Olivia Wilde are being sued by their former nanny, who claims the couple fired her due to issues with her mental health.
Ericka Genaro – who was previously employed by the former couple – said she suffered from “extreme anxiety” and stress following the pair’s separation in 2020 which ultimately became “debilitating”.
In court documents filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Genaro alleged that during late-night chats with Sudeikis she felt she had needed to “ostensibly pick sides” between the two parents.
“Wilde’s sudden absence from the home had an adverse consequence on its emotional state, including Sudeikis leaning on the presence of (Genaro) for support,” the complaint, obtained by the PA news agency, read.
“Plaintiff became increasingly anxious and stressed with Sudeikis’ tendency to seemingly require Plaintiff to stay up at night after the kids were put to bed to talk, whereas that dynamic did not occur before Wilde’s absence.
“The subject matter of these late-night conversations with Sudeikis naturally evolved to speaking about Wilde which Plaintiff felt compelled to engage in despite creating extreme anxiety to her as she ostensibly felt she had to ‘pick sides’ between the parents of the children she was ostensibly the primary caretaker.”
The filing added that Genaro’s anxiety over the proceeding months had continued to “boil up” and it had been exacerbated by media coverage of the couple’s separation.
Genaro later alleged that after informing Sudeikis of the need for a three-day medical leave of absence – recommended to her by a doctor – the actor had “terminated her on the spot”.
She has filed a case for wrongful termination on the grounds of discrimination on the basis of disability.
“Plaintiff is informed and believes, and thereon alleges, her termination was because of her disability of anxiety/depression, and for seeking the reasonable accommodation of a three day leave of absence for same,” the filing stated.
Sudeikis and Wilde were together from 2011 until late 2020, and are parents of an eight-year-old son, Otis, and three-year-old daughter, Daisy.
In October 2022, Sudeikis and Wilde issued a joint statement insisting that comments made about them by Genaro were “false and scurrilous”.
“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,” they said.
“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.”
Wilde previously accused Sudeikis of “threatening” her by having her served with legal papers onstage at an event in Las Vegas last year.
She claimed the actor could have had the documents delivered “discreetly” but had chosen to do so “in the most aggressive manner possible”.
The Ted Lasso actor later insisted it was not supposed to happen that way and a “series of logistical mishaps” led the server to deliver the documents at CinemaCon after failing to do so at the intended location
“I understand that the process server had only done her job; however, I deeply regret what happened,” he said of the incident, according to court documents.