Olivia Wilde Admits 'Relationships Are Hard' If You Don't Have 'Difficult Conversations' (Exclusive)

Lily BrownThu, July 2, 2026 at 7:04 PM UTC

0

Seth Rogen and Olivia Wilde in 'The Invite'Credit: Courtesy of A24 -

Olivia Wilde says long-term relationships require difficult conversations and are a central theme of her new film The Invite

The Invite, based on the Spanish film The People Upstairs, explores universal challenges in modern relationships

The Invite is in theaters now

For Olivia Wilde, the key to making a relationship last isn't avoiding hard conversations — it's having them.

While speaking with PEOPLE about her new film The Invite, the 42-year-old actress reflected on the film's central themes, admitting that maintaining a long-term relationship takes more than chemistry.

"Relationships are hard," Wilde tells PEOPLE. "It's impossible to… It's not impossible, but it feels impossible, I think, at times, to sustain a relationship with one person for a very long time if you don't have these difficult conversations that the movie is really about.”

Wilde has been open about romantic relationships in her own life, most recently sharing more insight into her split from fiancé Jason Sudeikis, with whom she shares two children, Otis, 12, and Daisy, 9.

In a June 17 episode of Call Her Daddy, Wilde shared that it was "no surprise" to her that she ended up making a movie about the difficulty of knowing when a relationship is over, thanks to her own experience making that decision.

She opened up about the exact moment she knew her relationship with Sudeikis, 50, was done on the car ride home from her birthday party in March 2020.

“Jason and I had been having a rough time there for a while,” she shared. “We had a real bumpy, bumpy ride, and we were driving home from my birthday party my friends had had, and I said, ‘Did you give me a birthday present?’ And he said, ‘What would I get you, Olivia? I don't know you.’ And he wasn't wrong. We didn't know each other anymore.”

Jason Sudeikis and Olivia Wilde attend the 2019 IFP Gotham Awards with FIJI Water at Cipriani Wall Street on December 02, 2019 in New York CityCredit: Noam Galai/Getty

Wilde stars alongside Seth Rogen, Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton in the comedy centered on one unforgettable dinner party. When a married couple invites their loud upstairs neighbors over for the night, they're surprised by a shocking proposition that has them questioning their own relationship.

The Invite is based on the acclaimed Spanish film The People Upstairs, which has also inspired adaptations in Italy, France, Switzerland and South Korea.

Advertisement

When asked why the story has resonated across so many countries and cultures, Wilde says its exploration of relationships is something nearly everyone can relate to.

— sign up for PEOPLE's free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer, from celebrity news to compelling human interest stories.

Cruz, 52, who has been with husband Javier Bardem for more than three decades, echoed that sentiment, saying relationships are a constant learning experience and continue to evolve no matter how long you've been together.

"I feel like I'm still learning," she says. "I am with somebody that I've known for 33 years, so I really know that person. But, is there a day where you really get to know yourself? No, so it's the same with your partner.”

The cast also shared how shooting the film in chronological order helped them naturally experience the emotional highs and lows of the story alongside their characters.

“We were going along with this experience with the characters in a very organic way,” Wilde says.

Olivia Wilde in 'The Invite'Credit: Courtesy of A24

The unusual filming schedule, she says, allowed the cast to genuinely build on each scene as the story progressed.

“We were experiencing all these things and feeling the tension and the release and the emotion in a way that I have never experienced," Wilde says.

The Invite released in theaters starting June 26.

on People

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Entertainment”