The Truth About Olivia Wilde's Ex-Husband
It would appear that actor, filmmaker, and part-time feminist icon Olivia Wilde has really excellent taste in romantic partners. Following the end of her engagement to "Ted Lasso" star Jason Sudeikis, with whom she has two children, Wilde began dating former One Directioner Harry Styles — who happens to be the star of her upcoming movie.
Wilde's breakup with Sudeikis and new romance with Styles has been the source of so much fan gossip and speculation, you may have forgotten that she had actually been married once before. And while her ex-husband may not be as mega-famous as her most recent paramours, he was every bit as glam.
Back in the aughts when Wilde first arrived on the scene, she was married to Tao Ruspoli, Italian filmmaker and literal prince. (Because who else would Wilde be married to, right?) The couple divorced in 2011, after eight years of marriage, and Wilde started dating Sudeikis that same year.
So here's what we know.
Wilde was married to actual royalty
Perhaps the most eye-popping detail of Olivia Wilde's marriage to Tao Ruspoli was how it began. The duo eloped six months after meeting, when Ruspoli was 27 and Wilde was 18.
"My dad did have a minor heart attack, and it was hard to imagine settling down at the time," she said in an interview with Women's Health. Ruspoli may have been a prince, but according to Wilde, he was extraordinarily chill as far as royalty goes. "Everyone expects him to pick me up in a limo or a yacht," she said in the same interview. "Then Tao rolls up in this old Thunderbird, wearing flip-flops, his hair all crazy."
The son of occasional actor and aristocrat Prince Alessandro Ruspoli, 9th Prince of Cerveteri and Austrian-American actress Debra Berger, Ruspoli comes by his artistic inclinations naturally. Aside from his marriage to Wilde, Ruspoli is best known as a documentary filmmaker. One of his most well-known documentaries is "Monogamish", which he made following his painful split from Wilde. Seeking counsel from relatives, well-known columnists like Dan Savage and Esther Perel, artists, sex workers, and more, the documentary explores the nature of love and monogamy in modern society.
The divorce may have inspired the film, but in an interview with Tatler, Ruspoli says he has, "nothing but good feelings towards her and nothing but gratitude for the time we spent together."