Olivia Wilde was left stunned as she was reportedly served with legal papers on behalf of her ex-fiance Jason Sudeikis while appearing on stage to promote her new film.

The director was appearing at CinemaCon in Las Vegas at a presentation for her upcoming thriller Don’t Worry Darling, which stars her partner Harry Styles and English actor Florence Pugh, when she was given a brown envelope.

US media reported a person approached from the seated section and slid the envelope marked “private and confidential” across the front of the stage to Wilde, who then opened it, with US entertainment news website Deadline saying there were custody documents inside relating to the two children the 38-year-old has with Ted Lasso star Sudeikis.

The pair were together from 2011 until late 2020 and are parents of eight-year-old son Otis and daughter Daisy, five.

The Northern Echo: The pair had been together for nine years (PA)The pair had been together for nine years (PA)

A source for 46-year-old Sudeikis told US showbiz outlet Variety: “Papers were drawn up to establish jurisdiction relating to the children of Ms Wilde and Mr Sudeikis.

“Mr Sudeikis had no prior knowledge of the time or place that the envelope would have been delivered as this would solely be up to the process service company involved, and he would never condone her being served in such an inappropriate manner,” it added.

CinemaCon’s managing director Mitch Neuhauser said the event was re-evaluating its security procedures.

Speaking to Deadline he said: “We have never in the history of the convention had an incident where a delegate has approached the stage who was not authorised to be there.

“In light of this incident, we are re-evaluating our security procedures to ensure the safety of all our attendees."