As I
sit in a Los Angeles restaurant waiting to interview Olivia Wilde, my
mind trails back 20 years earlier, to a restaurant in Bangkok where I
once waited for Olivia’s mother, award-winning producer and journalist
Leslie Cockburn. (I was a young production associate at ABC News and
assigned to work with Leslie on a documentary about Cambodia.) I first
met Olivia, in fact, while working for her mother. Leslie had an editing
room set up in the family’s Georgetown home, where I sat and logged
videotapes. Olivia was just a little kid, but she already had a unique
poise.
- Etant assise dans un restaurant de Los Angeles attendant d'interviewer
Olivia Wilde, mon esprit retourne 20 ans plus tôt, à un restaurant à
Bangkok où j'ai attendu une fois la mère d'Olivia, une productrice qui a
reçu un prix et une journaliste, Leslie Cockburn. (J'étais une jeune
associée de production à ABC News et j'étais affecté au travail avec
Leslie sur un documentaire au sujet du Cambodge.) J'ai rencontré pour la
première fois Olivia, en fait, tout en travaillant pour sa mère. Leslie
a fait installer une salle d'édition dans la maison de Georgetown de la
famille, où j'ai posé et noté des bandes vidéo. Olivia était juste
une petite fille, mais elle avait déjà un équilibre unique.
Back then, Olivia’s mother was one of the hottest young producers in
news. She and journalist husband Andrew Cockburn hosted dinner parties
in D.C. teeming with movie stars, world leaders and the occasional spy.
Now Olivia is just the sort of person her parents would have wanted at
the table: charming and famous, yes, but also as smart and serious-minded
as she is stunning. She plays the brainy character Thirteen on the TV
series House M.D. and was a sultry
cybervixen in last year’s blockbuster Tron:
Legacy. Over the next two years, she’s got seven films coming
out, including Cowboys & Aliens and
The Change-Up (from the guy who
directed Wedding Crashers!).
Married at 18 to Tao Ruspoli, an Italian prince whom she met through
friends, Olivia filed for divorce in March. Now 27, she seems wise and
confident beyond her years, but she’s sweetly vulnerable too. Single for
the first time in her adulthood (she’s been spotted lately with Ryan
Gosling and Justin Timberlake), Olivia opened up about what’s next.
GLAMOUR: Your mother is my idol. I did my first big story with her.
OLIVIA WILDE: I love that! I’m 27, and to think that she was
already working at ABC at my age, already kicking ass in that world.
She’d also had my older sister. That blows my mind.
GLAMOUR: I first met you when you were six.
OLIVIA WILDE: I remember the dining room table was covered with
every newspaper from eight in the morning until night.
GLAMOUR: Stacks of paper. Did you grow up talking politics around the
dinner table?
OLIVIA WILDE: Yes, we did. They had these epic dinner parties…. I
would always crawl under the table and just listen. I remember Mick
Jagger [talking] politics with my parents…. At 13 I came to L.A. for a
press junket, and it was this magical land of palm trees and George
Clooney. But [then] I saw George talking to my dad about politics, and I
thought what makes these people special is that they’re not just actors….
I saw people being valued for their intelligence and their interests as
opposed to their stardom. It was instilled in us that stardom is
meaningless.
GLAMOUR: You went to Haiti after the earthquake. I wasn’t surprised.
OLIVIA WILDE: Going to Haiti was really amazing. I felt very
comfortable and calm in the dangerous places. I would write [my mother]
e-mails saying, “Today we got caught in a riot. Then there was a
shooting, then later we were at a morgue.” Most mothers would write
back, “Be careful,” but she writes, “Send me more. Find out what’s going
on with so-and-so.” It was an incredible bonding experience.
GLAMOUR: But how did you become an actress? It’s like a Kennedy becoming
a fashion designer.
OLIVIA WILDE: Ha! I never wanted to be a journalist. But I can’t
tell you how profound it’s been to realize that [my mother] is so within
me…. She’s gorgeous, and she taught me that a real feminist doesn’t
apologize for her beauty. You can be a sexy, beautiful woman and be the
smartest person in the room.
- Elle est magnifique, et elle m’a appris qu’une vraie féministe ne
s’excuse pas pour sa beauté. Vous pouvez être une sexy, belle femme et
la personne la plus intelligente dans la pièce.
GLAMOUR: You have both presence and intellect. Does it put people off in
Hollywood?
OLIVIA WILDE: With Tron, I walked in there and said, “[My
character] can’t be this slinky temptress of the sci-fi world. It’s
boring.” I would sit with the writers for hours. And when I did Cowboys
& Aliens, the writers from Tron called them and said, “She’s going to
want to talk for hours, and she’s going to want to write.” I was happy
with that reputation—good! And we did.
GLAMOUR: Daniel Craig, Ryan Reynolds, Justin Timberlake—the list of your
costars reads like People’s Sexiest Men Alive.
OLIVIA WILDE: It’s not bad! I’ve been lucky to have chemistry
with my costars, and I really enjoy pretend kissing. If you’re
pretending to love each other, you’ve got to find something to fall in
love with.
GLAMOUR: Speaking of love: You were a child bride. Marrying at 18 after
a whirlwind courtship is so old-fashioned.
OLIVIA WILDE: It is. I found out after I did it that my
grandmother did the same thing. My mom also [married] very young.
GLAMOUR: What was her reaction when you came home and said, “I’m getting
married”?
OLIVIA WILDE: She found out, like a good journalist, without my
telling her.
GLAMOUR: Of course she did!
OLIVIA WILDE: Why would I try to keep anything from this woman?
She embraced [Tao] and really encouraged me to thrive in this choice
that I made. And then when it didn’t work out, in just the same way she
encouraged me to find the positive thing about [that].
GLAMOUR: Your parents have been married for what, 35 years? What is the
mark of a successful marriage—should it be measured by length of years?
Because I don’t think every successful relationship ends with “happily
ever after.”
OLIVIA WILDE: Sometimes it’s eight years and it’s great, and you
have to know when it ends. The mark of a good marriage is partnership
and continuing to feel inspired by your spouse. I had that with Tao. But
the end is not necessarily the tragedy. Staying in a relationship that
is no longer working is the tragedy. Living unhappily—that’s the tragedy.
- La marque d’un bon mariage c’est la complicité et le sentiment
permanent d’être inspiré par votre époux. J’avais ça avec Tao. Mais la
fin de l’histoire n’est pas forcément une tragédie. Rester dans une
relation qui ne fonctionne plus, ça c’est une tragédie. Vivre
malheureuse, ça c’est une tragédie.
GLAMOUR: What is the lesson of a young marriage?
OLIVIA WILDE: Everyone said it to me—and I had to figure it out
for myself—but you change so much. I’ve learned that it’s important to
spend some time in a relationship with yourself and not being defined by
your partner.
GLAMOUR: Was it hard to finally say, “It’s over”?
OLIVIA WILDE: It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do…. We
got engaged at Burning Man and married on a school bus. We were not
conventional. I think the promise we always made was that if we are no
longer happy, we won’t continue. And it got to the point where I was
working 10 months of the year outside of L.A. and he was doing
incredible things in other places. We were no longer partners in crime.
GLAMOUR: Are you dating again?
OLIVIA WILDE: I’m opening my heart up to the idea of dating. It’s
funny—my friends would always come to me for romantic advice, [but] I
know nothing, and things have changed since I was dating in high school!
I’m really trying hard to spend this time working on myself.
GLAMOUR: How is that possible with seven films coming out in the next
two years?
OLIVIA WILDE: I’m going to Haiti to work on a documentary about a
Little League team. After, I’m thinking about traveling, but I should
stay in one place. I just bought a house [in L.A.]. I’ve already filled
it with girlfriends who are going to live there!
GLAMOUR: I have a feeling you’ll be in a relationship soon.
OLIVIA WILDE: I don’t want to, but I probably will. I wish I
could play the field. But it’s so not me. I go 100 percent into
everything. And I’m a really good girlfriend.
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