Olivia Wilde faced intense fan backlash during her time on 'House.' The 40-year-old actress recently revealed to Variety at the Red Sea International Film Festival in Saudi Arabia that she received 'insane death threats constantly coming into the studios' when her bisexual character on the medical drama series entered an interracial relationship with Omar Epps' Dr. Eric Foreman.
Wilde, who played Remy 'Thirteen' Hadley on 'House' from 2007 to 2012, mentioned that extra security was hired for her on set due to the backlash. At the time, she was one of the few actors to portray a bisexual character on primetime television.
'Seeing what's on television now, if you watch 'Euphoria,' the fact that my character was shocking and groundbreaking then, it's like, no, it's nothing,' Wilde told Variety.
She also discussed how public hate can deeply impact an artist's work. 'The damage that does to an artist is profound, because you stop being as fearless. I think once you fear that you will be judged, you become self-conscious in a way that has never been good for any artist,' Wilde said. 'A director mentor recently said to me that directors have to decide at a certain point, do you want to be a celebrity or an artist,' she continued. 'Because of social media, it's become even more combined.'
Before 'House,' Wilde had a recurring role on 'The O.C.' as a bartender named Alex Kelly, who was also bisexual. In a past interview with Variety, the 'Don't Worry Darling' director reflected on how fans had strong reactions to both of her queer TV roles. 'At the time, that was seen as really extraordinary, and it shouldn't have been extraordinary. It should have been rather ordinary,' Wilde said in 2022. She added, 'I think we could've gone a lot farther to create even more authentic portrayals. I never thought it should have made headlines that we had a same-sex relationship on a network show.'
In 2011, Wilde recalled how viewers were enraged when she and Epps, 51, shared their first on-screen kiss in a 2009 episode of 'House.' 'We got a lot of hate mail for that,' she shared. 'There are racist people out there. We got hate mail that said that someone wanted to cut off my lips and kill me. We had extra security on set for a while.'
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