Olivia Wilde
(Picture: Getty Images for ELLE)Olivia Wilde has been forced to defend herself against allegations from fuming Rihanna fans that she was ‘inappropriate’ for publically calling the Umbrella singer’s partner and baby daddy ‘hot’ in a video posted to the actress’s Instagram stories.
The content featured a visibly proud A$AP Rocky filming his pregnant girlfriend during the singer’s Super Bowl halftime show on February 12 while wearing a baseball jacket embroidered with her tattooed hand. Rihanna publicly revealed her second pregnancy during her 13-minute set, her partner bopping along with the 72,000 strong-crowd to some of her biggest hits including Diamonds in the Sky and Rude Boy. Wilde had captioned her video “If I thought he was hot before, this really put me over the edge.”
And people were livid, with some instantly taking to Twitter to rage-type stuff like: “Olivia Wilde has no class…” and “u just look like a thirsty homewrecker”.
Sorry, what?
This has got to be peak pearl clutching: woman posts a story about how attractive it is when a man supports his partner’s successes and she’s given a digital dressing down?
Wilde, 38, took down the video and presumably felt compelled to explain herself in another Instagram story. With the help of an eye-roll emoji she wrote “For anyone who got it twisted… it’s hot to respect your partner… Especially when your partner just did thaaaaaat.”
Look, it’s all little bit cringe – for sure – but it’s hardly the actions of a scarlet woman covertly shooting her shot. The Don’t Worry Darling star publicly posted the story and tagged both the rapper – real name Rakin Mayers – and Rihanna in it with a heart emoji. This is not secretly sliding into DMs territory. In fact, its quite literally the opposite.
Also, when did “inappropriate” become such a primly loaded word? What was once used to describe unsuitable school footwear is now used to diagnose so-called moral failings.
At the very worst the entire episode is embarrassing. For Wilde, yes, but also for everyone trying to make out that Rhianna – the beautiful billionaire performer and businesswoman – needs her honour to be in any way protected by strangers on the Internet. In the unlikely event that she has even noticed Wilde’s stories, let alone allowed them to ruffle any of her feathers, chances are RiRi is capable of responding.
The issue, surely, is that there are strong traces of misogyny about it all – as if women need to see all other women as threats, wilfully construing even the most transparent and open of exchanges as shady. Not only this, but plenty of commentators are calling Wilde “messy” and making unoriginal puns relating to her surname as a means of shaming her conduct in past relationships – namely her high-profile breakups with Jason Sudeikis and Harry Styles.
Why can’t we let things just settle at embarrassing, awkward or ill-advised? Why must we always esculate them to inappropriate or messy or morally corrupt?
In doing so we reveal that often the only thing anyone is ever thirsty for is drama.
