How Olivia Wilde’s divorce helped her career

CEBU, Philippines - Not all failures are a bad thing — just ask Olivia Wilde.

Before the “Drinking Buddies” actress, 31, was coupled up with Jason Sudeikis, she was a very young bride — at just 19. Needless to say, that marriage didn’t work out or there would be no Otis, but her divorce taught her an important lesson: to accept herself.

Asked by Elle magazine about the moment in her life when she stopped caring what people thought of her, the auburn-haired beauty said, “I was 27. I got a divorce, and I felt like I finally started my career.”

Her career, which up until then included roles on TV’s “House,” “M.D.”  and “The O.C.” and in the film “Tron: Legacy,” benefited because, “I started making movies and projects that I just really believed in.”

Wilde’s divorce from Tao Ruspoli — a prince — led her to the realization that she was flawed and that was okay.

“I remember a good friend saying to me, now isn’t it relaxing that you don’t have to be perfect?” recalled the actress, whose new TV series, HBO’s “Vinyl,” debuts in 2016. She also has two movies coming out this year: “Meadowland” and “Love the Coopers.”

“I thought, that is something that happens for everyone, not just for professionals. At the end of your 20s, you realize you are inherently flawed, and that’s great, and that’s what makes you dynamic.”

She continued, “For me, it was around 27 when that kind of return to self took place, of living for myself, not living to keep up expectations. I think you go from living for your parents to your peers, maybe back to your parents, maybe to your employer. You go through all these stages of living for other people, and I think at 30 you say, it’s my life and I live it for me.”

This phase of her life includes planning a wedding with her “Saturday Night Live” alum beau — at her own pace and on her own terms. (FREEMAN)