Owen Wilson is a comedic actor who has starred in memorably funny films such as “Wedding Crashers,” “Starsky & Hutch,” and “The Royal Tenenbaums,” the latter of which co-starred iconic actors such as Anjelica Huston and the late Gene Hackman. Wilson is known for his slightly off-kilter characters as well as his unique good looks, which give him a down-to-earth quality. But beyond his stellar resume and his comedic prowess lurks a darkness that has come from a deceivingly difficult life.

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Growing up, Wilson had a fear of death that he was able to shake off, only to experience both physical and emotional pain during his teen years. Rumors of substance misuse plagued the actor and were thought by many to have contributed to Wilson’s 2007 suicide attempt. Wilson, who is exceedingly private about the more troubling things he has endured, has also dealt with difficult breakups and intrusions by the paparazzi, giving him a sometimes bleak outlook on life. In 2025, the actor was thriving professionally, but it took overcoming many obstacles to get to a place of peace. Read on to learn more about Owen Wilson’s tragic life story.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

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Owen Wilson has had his share of struggles with depression as an adult, and it seems some of his issues might have begun during his childhood. According to Wilson, he had some dark fears as a kid, particularly surrounding the idea of his own mortality. “As a kid, there’s a lot of things that you think about,” he shared with Esquire in 2021. “Death — that kind of landed with me when I was about 11.”

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Wilson mostly kept his fears to himself and did not seek help from his parents, which had to weigh on him at such a formative age. And when he finally brought up how he was feeling to his father, he wasn’t exactly reassured. “I do remember one time saying to my dad — and I remember exactly where in the house — saying, ‘I worry about dying,’ and seeing my dad turn away and catch himself,” Wilson said, adding that it was a reaction he wasn’t expecting. “But who knows, maybe that was part of why I said it,” he explained.

Owen Wilson’s childhood was not all gloom and doom. He did spend a lot of time with his brothers, Luke Wilson and Andrew Wilson, playing sports, watching TV, and even performing in plays they’d written themselves. But while he was having a good time and getting interested in activities that would later serve him as an actor, Wilson wasn’t exactly a star student.

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He attended high school at St. Mark’s, a well-regarded preparatory all-boys school in Dallas, where he regularly earned Cs and Ds. When Wilson was a sophomore, he and some friends managed to get their hands on the answers to a geometry test, and Wilson was able to ace it. According to the actor, it was this fact that likely caught the attention of the faculty, getting him expelled from school for cheating. But there was another reason Wilson was kicked out of the prestigious academy. “They wanted the name of a guy who cheated along with me,” he told Texas Monthly, “but I talked to my dad about it, and we didn’t feel that was right.

Wilson was subsequently sent to the New Mexico Military Institute, which proved a fateful move. “It defined Owen in a way,” his brother Luke told the Los Angeles Times. “He dealt with the adversity of getting expelled.” And it was at his new school in Roswell, New Mexico, that Wilson met the friend who would later introduce him to Wes Anderson, with whom he went on to share a close friendship and collaborate on many film projects.

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Although his nose is one of his most distinct features, Owen Wilson suffered quite a bit because of the multiple injuries that gave him his unique look. Wilson broke his nose two separate times, which is why it is shaped the way it is. When he was a kid, he was playing with some friends, or “roughhousing” as he explained to Wired, and his nose was broken the first time. The second time he sustained the injury was while attending college at the University of Texas. As he described it, “[W]e were doing intramural flag football, and I got banged.”

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In 2000, Wilson got into a motorcycle accident on Thanksgiving. He was thrown off his bike and landed on his face. Luckily, the accident did not cause yet another nose fracture, but the actor did suffer from other, less serious injuries to his face.

In addition to having injured his nose several times, an experience that can be quite painful, Wilson has also gotten some unkind comments about the appearance of his nose. He told the Los Angeles Times he’d received comments like, “You look kind of odd, disfigured,” which caught him off guard. But Wilson’s own take on his appearance was self-deprecating. “You know, probably my nose wouldn’t have been that great even if it hadn’t been broken,” he said.

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By 2007, Owen Wilson was at the height of his career, having recently starred in such blockbuster hits as “Wedding Crashers,” “Starsky & Hutch,” and “You, Me, and Dupree” along with Wes Anderson films such as “The Royal Tenenbaums” and “The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.” But while Wilson was enjoying career success, rumors began to surface that he was partying too hard and dealing with substance issues.

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Friends of the actor reportedly claimed they were aware that he had been using heroin and cocaine, although Wilson’s rep spoke on his behalf and denied he’d ever engaged in that kind of activity. Rock star Courtney Love blamed Wilson’s pal British actor Steve Coogan for being a bad influence on him. She had dated Coogan in the past and witnessed the extent of his partying. “I tried to warn Owen,” Love told Us Weekly (via The New York Post). “I tried to warn his friends. I hope from the bottom of my heart that Owen stays the hell away from that guy.”

If you or anyone you know needs help with addiction issues, help is available. Visit the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration website or contact SAMHSA’s National Helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357).

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2007 was a rough year for Owen Wilson. According to reports that the actor had attempted to take his own life, a 911 call was placed from Wilson’s home in Santa Monica, California, and the reason for the call was listed as attempted suicide. It was later confirmed that Wilson’s brother Luke had found the actor in time for him to be treated first at St. John’s Hospital and then at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center where staff luckily deemed him to be in good condition. At the time, Wilson sought privacy, issuing the statement, “I respectfully ask that the media allow me to receive care and heal in private during this difficult time” (via TMZ).

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Wilson has kept mum about the frightening incident over the years, which is understandable given the dark time he had gone through. But his friends and family rallied around him following the suicide attempt, and the actor’s brother Andrew stayed with him in his home and helped him get back on track. Andrew created little schedules for his brother in order to make his days more manageable, which eventually led to a greater feeling of well-being for Wilson.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or chat 988lifeline.org.

From 2006 until 2009, Owen Wilson and fellow actor Kate Hudson, who also has a tragic past, had an on-again, off-again relationship that started off very sweetly but got pretty messy. The pair met while co-starring in the film “You, Me, and Dupree” and seemed to hit it off immediately. “Kate is always laughing,” Wilson shared with E! “I think that’s why everybody kind of falls in love with her.” Wilson and Hudson were spotted at various places all over the globe in 2006, meeting up for dates in Australia and New York City and vacationing in Hawaii. But the honeymoon phase didn’t last very long, and the pair called it quits in 2007.

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The breakup didn’t last long, however, as the couple reunited months later, looking loved up at the 2008 Oscars and traveling to Miami to spend Hudson’s 29th birthday together. They seemed like the perfect couple, and Wilson clearly thought so too. The next time they split in May 2008, it hit him hard. “It was a pretty bad breakup,” a source revealed to People. “Owen said it was a tough one. … He wants to put it behind him.” Wilson and Hudson tried to make it work again in 2009, but by then it was clear they were better off as friends.

In 2008, Owen Wilson was a huge celebrity. He had starred in a slew of big films and dated Kate Hudson, who was also at the height of her fame at the time. Wilson’s fame made him the target of paparazzi attention, which seemed to really rub him the wrong way. So much so that Wilson had gotten into several scuffles with photographers over having his picture taken when he wanted privacy.

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In March of that year, Wilson was at a party in South Beach, Florida when photographer Manny Hernandez snapped a few shots of the actor jumping around in the pool. Wilson reportedly was not happy and took it out on Hernandez. “[Wilson] charged at me and started screaming at me hysterically,” the photog told Page Six. “A lot of friends and clients were there, and that looked so bad for me.” A rep for Wilson fired back, claiming, “He was invited to the event and was promised there would be no media there. He didn’t yell at anybody.”

Months later in December, Wilson and his brother Andrew allegedly got into it with a different paparazzo, Clint Brewer. Brewer claimed he was pushed on a flight of stairs by Wilson, leading to a fight that injured Brewer. He sued the Wilson brothers to the tune of $500,000, but the outcome of the lawsuit is not known at the time of this publication.

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In January 2011, Owen Wilson welcomed his son Ford with his girlfriend at the time, Jade Duell. Wilson and Duell dated for a year before their son was born, but unfortunately, the relationship couldn’t stand the test of time. As a source shared with National Enquirer, “Owen wanted the freedom to do what he wanted with his friends, both male and female, while remaining a family unit with Jade and the baby” (via Irish Examiner). Duell wasn’t happy with that arrangement, which led to the pair breaking up when Ford was 6 months old.

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Sadly, the breakup caused Wilson to miss his son’s christening, even though he was expected to attend. Whether it was tension with Duell or other issues, Wilson apparently backed out of going to the event at the very last minute. “Owen had every intention of being there, but when it came time to board his flight at Los Angeles Airport, he couldn’t do it,” the source shared. “He left the airport and drove around Santa Monica for hours.”

Three years after the birth of his son Ford, Owen Wilson welcomed his second child, a son named Finn, with personal trainer Caroline Lindqvist. While Wilson did not remain in romantic relationships with either of his sons’ mothers, they all live near one another, and Wilson plays a big part in Ford and Finn’s lives. However, Wilson has another child, a daughter named Lyla who was born in 2018, and he does not have a relationship with her at all.

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In fact, Wilson reportedly changed his phone number after finding out his ex-girlfriend Varunie Vongsvirates was pregnant with Lyla. “When Varunie told Owen she was pregnant, he was not happy about it, and that was the last time they ever spoke,” a source told RadarOnline. As of 2021, Wilson had yet to meet his daughter, despite Vongsvirates pleading with him to be a part of Lyla’s life. Vongsvirates admitted that Wilson did help out financially, but that was where his contribution ended. “Lyla needs a father,” she told Daily Mail. “It’s ironic how [Owen] keeps getting these father roles … and he’s never met his own daughter.”

It’s clear Owen Wilson has been through a lot of pain in his life despite his impressive resume and undeniable star power. While Wilson has remained tight-lipped about certain aspects of his life, namely his nonexistent relationship with his daughter and his 2007 suicide attempt, he did open up about the difficulties he’d experienced in general during his 2021 Esquire interview.

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Wilson, who has played many goofy and eccentric characters, used an example from the film world to describe his feelings. “Sometimes, life seems to be played by Tom Hardy in ‘The Revenant,’ some nightmarish guy trying to kill you, where even if you get the upper hand, he’s still going to be there at the end whispering, ‘This ain’t gonna bring your boy back or your dad back or any good times from your past back,” the actor explained to the outlet. But it didn’t seem as though he was willing to give in to those dark feelings, adding, “When life’s being played by that guy, you just gotta hang on and wait for it to pass.”