Olivia Wilde has shared more about her personal life, this time discussing both her relationship with Caspar Jopling and her thoughts on intimacy.
After recently speaking publicly about Jopling for the first time, Wilde reflected on keeping that part of her life guarded. In an interview with The Cut, she said: “When you’re with someone who’s not in the entertainment industry or isn’t a public figure, I have a sense of, ‘I want to protect this person as much as I can,'” calling it a ‘lovely relationship’.
While she kept most details private there, Wilde was far more candid during an appearance on Call Her Daddy, where the conversation turned to subjects including so-called bed death and “bedroom divorce.”
Theroux asked her: “What did you conclude about how much sex is normal?”
Wilde replied: “I think my real conclusion is that no sex is not normal, and that is something that I think a lot of people have mis-… Hmm, sounds very judgemental to say misunderstood,”
Theroux then brought up remarks Wilde had previously made on Alex Cooper’s Call Her Daddy podcast, where she suggested that a lack of sex in a relationship can point to bigger issues.
Referring to that earlier comment, he reminded her that she had said, ‘if there’s no sex in the relationship it’s not a good sign’. Wilde stood by it.
“It’s not a good sign. It’s a roommate. I really think that,” she responded.
Theroux summed it up as: “Yeah, bed death.”
That said, Wilde drew a clear line between a sexless relationship and couples choosing to sleep separately. On that front, she suggested the idea can actually add something to a relationship rather than take away from it.
“I’m intrigued by that,” she told Theroux. “You could, you could invite her over in a way that allows for maybe there’s a little bit of mystery in there. I think that’s interesting,” the mother of two added.
Theroux explained that arrangement is often known as ‘bedroom divorce’ — something Wilde appeared to view very differently from bed death, which she made clear she sees as a warning sign.
Wilde also spoke about the kind of intimacy she prefers, saying she enjoys a slower pace and the anticipation that can build before sex.
“I do think that there is something kind of tantric about a long lead up to sex that I think that there is a thing that we do when we’re dating where we say, ‘Let’s meet next week, should we have dinner next Thursday?’ and it’s like, ‘Yeah, sure,’ and what we’re really saying is, like, ‘Do you wanna have sex next Thursday?’ Wilde explained, saying she enjoys the ‘slow build up of anticipation’.
Outside the podcast appearance, Wilde is also promoting her new film, The Invite. She plays Angela, a woman stuck in an unhappy marriage to Joe, played by Seth Rogen, before events shift after the couple welcome their mysterious upstairs neighbors into their world.
From the sound of it, Wilde’s latest comments make one thing clear: for her, mystery and anticipation are one thing, but “bed death” is another entirely.