Sydney Sweeney is one of British GQ’s people of the year, part of their big “Men of the Year” issue. Whenever I write about her, people are always like “who?” or “I don’t like her,” but I’m kind of into her. She’s cute, she’s interesting, she’s not cookie-cutter. She hustled a lot for a decade to make it as an actress and she’s hustling a lot now that she has established herself. She’s balancing all that with an engagement, too much interest in her life, supporting herself and her family and a bustling career. You can read her profile here. Some highlights:
She loves playing Cassie on Euphoria: “I love the spiral that Cassie goes down. [The darker material] is the easiest for me. I can access my emotions easily, so that’s just kind of what happens…. I like finding characters who challenge the viewer. I dyed my hair blonde and started dressing up for photoshoots and people thought that is who I am. I worked really hard to change that perception of myself, especially in high school.”
Her teenage years: “I had boobs before other girls and I felt ostracised for it. I was embarrassed and I never wanted to change in the locker room. I think that I put on this weird persona other people had of me because of my body. So I did play every sport and I studied really hard and I did everything that people wouldn’t think I would do, to show them that my body doesn’t define who I am. [I still do that] but now it’s on a whole-world scale.”
Whether she resents nepo babies: “I might have had to work longer to get through the same door they were able to walk through. But there’s nothing I can do. I never knew that existed until I got to this place and then I was like, ‘What the f–k was I doing for 10 years?!’”
The whole “are your parents MAGA” conversation: “Honestly I feel like nothing I say can help the conversation. It’s been turning into a wildfire and nothing I can say will take it back to the correct track.”
She reads the comments: “I’ll see people say, ‘She needs to get media training’. Why, do you want to see a robot? I don’t think there’s any winning.” Does she read the comments? “Sadly, yes.”
She’s seen addiction in her own family: “I come from a family of Cassies and [recovering drug addict in the show] Rues. Mostly Rues. I’ve never actually tried any drug, never drank, because I’ve seen my aunts, uncles, cousins, and the effect not just on that person but the community surrounding them. It’s hard to watch someone want to destroy themselves. It’s hard when people judge people they don’t know.”
On abortion: “When I was doing The Handmaid’s Tale I had a lot of women come up to me and tell me how much the show meant to them.” With the overturning of Roe vs. Wade, the series feels darker and more urgent than ever. “People were like, ‘Oh no that’ll never happen.’ I honestly don’t know how we’re in the place that we’re in.”
Naked screenshots from her work appearing online: “It got to the point where they were tagging my family. My cousins don’t need that. It’s completely disgusting and unfair. You have a character that goes through the scrutiny of being a sexualised person at school and then an audience that does the same thing.”
The lack-of-media-training thing is interesting, because from what I’ve seen, she’s managed to deftly side-step a lot of political conversations without saying much of anything. There are media-trained billionaires who can’t accomplish that. Her parents are likely MAGA and she hasn’t thrown them under the bus, nor has she engaged with any of the online conversations about it, and she sidestepped it again here. Her answer on abortion is noncommittal too. We don’t know her personal politics, her fans have just assumed that she’s liberal. She hasn’t indicated either way.
As for developing early… I’ve said this before, but I filled out pretty young too, and I know it warped me, especially with body image, not so much with the way people treated me. My default, to this day, is baggier shirts and sweaters to somehow mask how top heavy I am. Sydney is different – she’s really, um, chest forward these days.
Cover & IG courtesy of British GQ.
Since I have a few Trump-loving relatives, I admit to not understanding the difficulty in calling out fascist politics and I do side-eye SS for that. At the same time I can appreciate how incredibly difficult it must be to make it in Hollywood without a money-machine backing you up. She has made it through hard work, sacrifice, and the support of her family.
As to early development: this was not my story, but it is that of my youngest. She’s almost a teenager, average curves, but almost 5’ 10” (177 cm—husband’s genes). If you only photograph her face, she doesn’t stand out, but because of her height, lots of creepy guys think she’s older and she’s already had creepy stalker incidents. It’s scary.
I give people a lot of leeway for not separating themselves from problematic family members. Those ties are deep. MAGA political framing is entirely about “pissing off the libs,” so there really isn’t a way to win by arguing with them about their beliefs. Just the fact of the argument is seen as a win. It really is like dealing with someone who has fallen for a cult or a con artist. Just try to get them to be honest for a moment and let them know you’re there if they want to break away from this. Part of how cults and con artists work is by getting people to cut themselves off from their friends and family. Don’t let them succeed.
I’m very interested to see if she will be able to keep growing and carry a movie or show on her own. That will be the real test.
My partner’s family is Maga. They were covertly racist towards me and since their overlord gave them permission and public acceptance became the norm they became overtly racist, sexist, exclusionary and downright threatened my safety and life. My partner too believes its a cult and there’s no point in arguing or getting them to see it any other way but their way. As a poc I don’t believe it as simple as well they’ve been brainwashed, it’s a cult, don’t cut them off. These people were always like this. It just became an acceptable social norm for them to act like this openly and not face any consequences. They took their privilege and used a historically established hierarchal system of systemic injustice and inequity to back their actions up and standards of western “civility” to engage in these faux conversations where they play dumb. If murdering people in broad daylight became the norm, would we still call that group victims of a con artist? Victims of a cult? Would we still allow them to get away with out any consequences? That’s where these people are headed because I have literally had them tell me that’s what the guns are for… People like me and any of their own people who side with the marginalized.
I was at a Christmas party at my daughters dance studio last weekend and heard one of the conservative Christian MAGA moms say she loves to sing “baby it’s cold outside” just to piss people off, I obviously didn’t start shit since kids were around but it was kind of shocking to me. It’s true their whole thing is to taunt other people and own the libs, it’s moronic and sad to me. She knows I’m liberal so she probably said it on purpose, and the song actually doesn’t upset because I know it’s a classic and times we’re different, so I just laughed, but it was just another example of how not to be a Christian.
I don’t know if calling people out is what everyone thinks is most effective? I chose to work in a conservative industry (agriculture), I like being around people who aren’t like me. And sometimes I hate it too. But I prefer to be opaque with people, understand their values, look for common ground, and try to get them to take one step in a direction I think is important. It’s not as exhilarating as telling people off, but since these people don’t just disappear I feel like it’s necessary.
I’m basically a socialist, so I have extremely STRONG feelings regarding her whole MAGA controversy. But I weirdly relate to this? I caught a bad case of pneumonia when I was 13 which caused me to miss 3 weeks of school and lose about 30 pounds, not by choice. I went from about 105 lbs to 75 lbs and this coincided with getting my first period. Even though I was so small (both before and after the pneumonia) I got huge stretch marks from that rapid weight loss. I will NEVER forget the locker room comments, they still haunt me til this day. Boobs are obviously concerned a better asset by society, but that feeling of being singled out while changing P.E. clothes amongst other girls… Wouldn’t wish that on an enemy. The marks have faded (I”m now 30), but I still receive random unsolicited comments on them, people asking how old my kids are (I have none). Again, I wouldn’t wish body scrutiny on anyone.
Stretch marks usually come from rapid weight gain, not loss. Mine appeared on my boobs (and hips) when I went from AA to C during my puberty summer. Many women get stretch marks on bellies during pregnancy if the babies are big.
Uum I think Hayley is aware of how one usually gets stretch marks.
Unnecessary input
Rapid weight loss can definitively cause stretch marks. The lack of proper vitamins and nutrition and dehydration, plus a genetic tendency towards stretch marks all play a role.
My daughters, all sub 105, have stretch marks from growing like rakes
They also have them on their breasts
I think hope society is a bit easier nowadays on things you can’t control
My middle daughter (just 14) is very small framed with large breasts and hates it with her entire heart. I hate how people look at her and she now dresses like a skater boi
When will we all just be allowed to be?
I can’t bring myself to watch the Handmaid’s Tale (I’ve read the book). But she was great in White Lotus. Her character isn’t sexy and she carried that off really well. She doesn’t need to be typecast. That said, she does most of the nude scenes in Euphoria as a character who has been treated like a sex object from a young age and struggles to understand herself beyond that label. That’s a very real problem and it’s treated sensitively at times while she’s also naked a lot. It’s complicated. I’m not sure how I feel about the statement about teen exploitation while also being exploitative.
I felt the same re Handmaids. I am honestly now so glad I did. I’ve binged it in the last month and it was truly excellent
I find it interesting that she’s leaning into the sexpot image. Those types of actresses don’t tend to have longevity so I’m not sure that’s a smart career move. Hopefully she knows what she’s doing.
She’s excellent on Euphoria, and from interviews she comes across as having a good head on her shoulders.
Guess I’m in the minority, but I think she is such a boring actress. I just don’t see the appeal about her.
Ditto.
I am tired of skinny blonde girl problems, and particularly of her. Are we supposed to feel sorry for her because she isn’t a nepo baby? I would like for once to see her acknowledge her white and “pretty” privilege. Sure, being a thin broad-chested blonde isn’t everything but it sure has helped her A LOT, she really should ask POC actors with non-normative bodies how much harder they gotta work to go through that same door.
Plus, I find her not only basic looking but also a medicre actress at best, and by the time a new generation of younger sexbots arrives she’ll be gone, baby, gone.
I wish someone like Sivan Alyra Rose whose acting is mesmerizing got the roles and attention she deserves instead of miss “boohoo me” here.
+1
I’m from where she’s from and live elsewhere now, due to work etc. But, I still work with, and for, Native people. While she says she can breathe when she’s home, it’s the opposite for me when I visit. For Native people and other POC it’s not so safe and a real hotbed for wyt supremacists. I was there in November and it hasn’t changed much and, naturally, had a spike in attitudes and behaviors. When I’m at family homes and on the rez then I can relate to that ability to breathe she spoke of and I love my culture and roots – the places where my ancestors footprints are underneath each restaurant, store and shopping spaces where I get menacing words and actions. Yes, we may have to keep quiet, like my cousin who works construction, for safety, not because our words might be misconstrued. On the other side though, we all know that our responsibility is to strive for social justice in ways that we can, sometimes it’s as simple as what we wear. It’s a fine line to try and speak and not get harmed, as we see with Ngozi Fulani, and myself and countless others, it isn’t very safe to name it, but we do. We do it especially in the hope that those behind us are safer, the risk for others. While she says she’s so real, without media training, her comment seems like a pretty trained reply, e.g. how not to address racism 101. If I saw her and her family at a restaurant when I’m visiting, I know I’d be wary and fully expect the usual comments: “Ewww Indians! Go around them.” This is not a childhood or years ago example either, having visited recently. I’m trying to balance my thoughts with knowing she’s young, but again at her age I did not have that luxury and was slapped in the forehead walking down the street. I really prefer the Michael Shannon school of thought and eff em… you’re an orphan now. Also, he’s such an amazing artist and as an aside I’m excited for George & Tammy.
I am so sorry to read about your horrible experiences. It is inconceivable to me what native Americans/ first nations people still have to endure in this time and age. It is also outrageous to me how little inclusivity there is in mainstream media when it comes to native people, I find it simply appalling, and yet no one of those hollywood phony types with so much time to spend on social media will speak about it or even mention it.
Skinny, blonde, pretty white girl problems. When I was 8 I developed severe mononucleosis and chronic fatigue. It went on for over 2 years, and as a result my growth was stunted and I looked 10 years old until I hit 16. Was I teased? Mercilessly. I didn’t start growing boobs or get my period until a month before my 16th birthday. That teasing stuck with me for a lonnnggggg time so I have zero sympathy for her. At my tender age my body DID define me, it defined me as a runt, a laughing stock and a social outcast.
I don’t really care that her parents are MAGA but I do care that she has never really confirmed that she is not MAGA. This is what she said: “You guys this is wild. An innocent celebration for my moms milestone 60th birthday has turned into an absurd political statement, which was not the intention. Please stop making assumptions.”
That is not a denial. And there is nothing “innocent” about blue lives matters t-shirts.