Tragic Details About Sydney Sweeney
Sydney Sweeney plays tragic figures so convincingly it's scary, as evidenced by her work on "Euphoria" and "Sharp Objects." But she told CR Fashion Book she never brings her characters' trauma and inner turmoil home with her. "I separate myself from my character and anything personal as much as I possibly can. It's the healthiest way to do it," she said.
For Sweeney, playing emotionally fraught characters isn't what mentally wears her down. In addition to acting, she runs her own production company, Fifty-Fifty Films, and she found herself so encumbered by her heavy workload in 2022 that she began experiencing panic attacks. "I was losing my s***," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "The White Lotus" star explained that she feels compelled to push herself to the brink out of fear; she doesn't want to fall out of favor with Hollywood and fall into financial ruin. "If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don't have income to cover that," she lamented. Even being as successful as she is, Sweeney says that acting alone isn't enough to pay the bills, let alone her team. This is why she takes up even more work by partnering with brands.
Sweeney has fought hard for the luxury of overloading her plate, and her loved ones have also made a lot of sacrifices on her behalf. Speaking to The Los Angeles Times about what she and her family endured for her to make it in Hollywood, she summed up their journey by saying, "We lost everything in pursuit of it."
She feels responsible for her family's financial struggles
Sydney Sweeney told the Associated Press that her family didn't have a television when she was growing up, but this didn't stop her from dreaming of one day turning one on and seeing herself on it. One way she kept herself busy without a TV was by creating a PowerPoint presentation to prove to her mother and father that making a living as an actor was an obtainable goal. But when her family left their home in Spokane, Washington, and moved to Los Angeles to help Sweeney achieve her dream, she soon realized that finding work that paid well might take some time — and time was not a luxury her family had. "My dad lost his job and we went bankrupt. They always say, 'It wasn't your fault.' It was," Sweeney told Cosmopolitan.
The actor's parents also sold what she described as her mother's "dream house." In California, the Sweeney family had to move into a hotel in Burbank, and the accommodations of the Holiday Inn weren't quite up to the standards of those Sweeney experienced when filming "The White Lotus" at the Four Seasons in Hawaii. However, she told GQ that she and her brother turned the experience into "the poor version of 'The Suite Life of Zack and Cody.'" While that time period had its high points, she finds it hard to put her family's hardships behind her. "I'll always feel responsible," she told Variety. "But that's OK."
Sydney Sweeney was devastated by her parents' divorce
Sydney Sweeney's parents began to question their decision to uproot the family when she struggled to find work. In addition to putting a strain on the Sweeneys' finances, the stressful situation began to take its toll on the marriage of Lisa Mudd and Steven Sweeney. By the time their daughter had finally achieved her goal, they were divorced. "It's kind of like a bittersweet thing of, yes, my dream is coming true. But unfortunately, I lost a lot of family in the meantime," Sydney told the AP.
Speaking to Cosmopolitan, the actor revealed that her brother, Trent Sweeney, made her feel even worse about their parents' split by letting her know that he held her responsible for it. When she was 18, Sydney convinced herself that she could put her fractured family back together by repurchasing their old house in Spokane. "Turns out, I had nowhere near enough money. I never cried more in my entire life," she said.
Her parents' divorce also made her furious with them because she felt like they had tried to hide their issues from her. Up until that point, she'd been a model daughter, but she needed an outlet for her frustration. She found it in not-so-great love affairs. "I got myself into sometimes really unfortunate and even dangerous relationships," she told C Magazine. But her behavior wasn't just about being rebellious. "I was looking for love to replace the emptiness of a home," she explained to Cosmopolitan.
She was bullied for her looks and Hollywood dreams
Sydney Sweeney's teen years were already challenging enough due to her burgeoning career. But having the responsibilities and stresses of an adult didn't spare her from some of the horrors of being a teenager. She told GQ she waged a losing war against acne and wasn't just concerned about her fellow students noticing her face. "I had boobs before other girls and I felt ostracized for it," she said.
While she was going to school in Spokane and making the long commute to Los Angeles to audition for projects, her classmates started bullying her for daring to be different. "They'd be like, 'I can't believe that Sydney's parents are letting her go to the hell-ridden city,'" she recalled to L'Officiel. However, she partially attributed the bullying to the parents of her fellow students, mostly for passing their judgmental views onto their children. "It got to a point that my school had to react and to talk to us about bullying," said Sweeney. When she moved to Los Angeles, she had a different issue: a clunker of a car that once housed a family of squirrels. "I would leave the keys in the ignition hoping someone would steal it so I could take the insurance out on it," she confessed to Cosmopolitan.
Sweeney told C Magazine she enjoys playing high school characters because she missed out on so much as a working student. "It's like my own therapy for myself," she said.
She experienced a lot of rejection
During her tweens and teens, Sydney Sweeney worked sporadically. While she did appear in a number of popular TV series, including "Criminal Minds" and "Grey's Anatomy," she wouldn't land the role that put her on Hollywood's radar until she was of legal drinking age. After she got cast as Eden Blaine in "The Handmaid's Tale," everything started to fall into place. But to get that one life-changing role, she had to endure years of rejection, self-doubt, and agonizing blows to her self-esteem. "I was told to lose weight or that my hair was the wrong color. Random things that make you start to question, 'Am I not going to ever become my dream?'" she said in her Cosmopolitan interview.
Sweeney told the AP she had to hear that her talent level and looks were lacking, ultimately learning that she wouldn't be getting the parts she wanted. Speaking to GQ, she revealed that her appearance was the only reason provided for one notably inaccurate prediction about her career. "A casting director told me once that I will never be on a TV show," she recalled.
On top of this, Sweeney was pressured to just give up on making it in Hollywood. Sadly, the pressure came from people who should have been cheering her on. "I hated going home and friends or family members being like, 'When are you going to come home and get a real job?'" she told GQ.
The dark side of doing nude scenes
While being comfortable with doing nude scenes can increase an actor's opportunities and eliminate some of their competition, it does have its downsides. Sydney Sweeney finds it frustrating that she doesn't get as much acclaim for her role in "Euphoria" as she does for her other work, and she told the Independent she believes it's because she appears naked in the Max series. "I do 'The White Lotus' and all of a sudden critics are paying attention. People are loving me. They're going, 'Oh my God, what's she doing next?' I was like, 'Did you not see that in 'Euphoria?'" she said. She also told Teen Vogue that filming nude scenes has a certain stigma attached to it, explaining that some people assume that the women who do them aren't talented and resort to showing off their bodies to get work.
While Sweeney hasn't had any issues when it comes to stripping down for "Euphoria," she hasn't been as lucky with some of her other projects. "I've had experiences where I want to go home and scrub myself completely raw because I feel disgusting," she told the Independent. She's also helpless to do anything about the proliferation of NSFW screengrabs and video clips from "Euphoria" circulating online. Internet trolls aren't satisfied with just looking at them, either. "It got to the point where they were tagging my family. My cousins don't need that. It's completely disgusting and unfair," she told GQ.
The tragic death of one of Sydney Sweeney's co-stars
After learning that her "Euphoria" co-star Angus Cloud passed away at age 25, Sydney Sweeney took to Instagram to share an emotional message about the tragic loss. "Angus you were an open soul, with the kindest heart, and you filled every room with laughter," it read in part. "This is the hardest thing I've ever had to post, and I'm struggling to find all the words." She also shared that she felt lucky that Cloud had been a part of her life and fondly reminisced about their trips to 7-Eleven. "This heartache is real," she wrote.
It was later found that Cloud, who played the genial drug dealer Fezco, had died of an accidental drug overdose, news that likely hit close to home for Sweeney and saddened her even more. Speaking to GQ, she shared that she has a number of family members who have struggled with addiction. "It's hard to watch someone want to destroy themselves," she said. Witnessing the devastating effects addiction has had on her loved ones and those around them, she decided to avoid drugs completely and only drink on rare occasions. "I'm terrified that I'm going to have that addiction," she told Cosmopolitan. "There's something in my family's blood that just hits a different way when they do stuff."
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).
Her crying video came after a horrific day
In 2021, some trolls on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter, got Sydney Sweeney's name to trend for the most inexplicable reason: They were calling her "ugly." As is often the case when things like this happen, fans were quick to jump to the actor's defense — but in battles that pit haters against supportive fans, the haters' hurtful words are somehow always the ones that are easiest to fixate on. Sweeney filmed a tearful Instagram Live video to show the trolls how much pain their actions had wrought. "I'm a f***ing person," she said as her voice cracked. "People need to be nicer on social media, 'cause it's really f***ed up."
Sweeney told Cosmopolitan that the decision to go live on Instagram came at the end of a stressful day. It started when her period coincided with a photo shoot; she was about to pose in lingerie and did not want to deal with bloating or feminine hygiene products. So, she thought it would be a good idea to try a method she found online to halt her period. Consequently, she ended up vomiting during her shoot. She then ended her day by having a falling out with a friend because Sweeney didn't feel up to going out. "I'm already crying, throwing up, and then two seconds later, I go on Twitter and see that I'm trending," she said. While she doesn't regret filming the video, she did admit, "Am I embarrassed? Of course."