Olivia Wilde has finally broken her silence on the bizarre “spitgate” saga surrounding her boyfriend Harry Styles and his Don’t Worry Darling co-star Chris Pine.
Video of the incident, in which Styles can be seen apparently spitting on 28-year-old Pine as he sits down next to him at the film’s glittering premiere in Venice, went viral a fortnight ago.
The clip prompted gossip of a rift between the pair, amid widespread whispers of ongoing tension on the set of the Wilde-directed psychological thriller.
Pine’s management rubbished the allegations, describing it as “a ridiculous story – a complete fabrication and the result of an odd online illusion that is clearly deceiving and allows for foolish speculation”.
“Just to be clear, Harry Styles did not spit on Chris Pine,” a spokesman told Variety.
“There is nothing but respect between these two men and any suggestion otherwise is a blatant attempt to create drama that simply does not exist.”
On Thursday (Australian time), Wilde was tackled about the saga on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, describing it as “another one of our weird rumours … which you might have heard about”.
“Did Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine, why or why not? Support your answer,” Colber asked.
“No, he did not,” Wilde said.
“But I think it’s a perfect example of, like, people will look for drama anywhere they can. Harry did not spit on Chris, in fact…”
A teasing Colbert said: “Only time will tell.”
“No, he really didn’t,” Wilde said.
Styles also pocked fun at the controversy during a recent New York City concert.
“This is our 10th show at Madison Square Garden, it is wonderful, wonderful, wonderful to be back here,” he told the crowd on September 7.
“I just popped over to Venice to spit on Chris Pine but fear not, we’re back!”
Amid the reports of tension on the Don’t Worry Darling set are claims of a falling out between Wilde and lead actress Florence Pugh.
Reports from July suggest Wilde’s on-set romance with Styles “did not go down well” with Pugh, as it started when the director was allegedly still with her ex-partner Jason Sudeikis.
There were also rumours – denied by Wilde – that Pugh was paid less than a third of what Styles earned for the film (a reported $700,000 to Styles’ $2.5 million).
Wilde has described those rumours as “tabloid gossip”.
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