Sydney Sweeney opens up about body image struggles

While Sydney Sweeney recently became the face of the Los Angeles-based swimwear and lingerie company Frankies Bikinis, her current success wasn’t always so easy.

In a recent interview, the ‘Euphoria’ actress talked about the struggles she faced growing up, particularly that of her body and the way it was perceived by the people around her. The actress also spoke about the struggles she still continues to face as an adult navigating the world of entertainment.

Sweeney felt her acting talent was overlooked because of her looks

Sweeney is perhaps most well-known for her role as Cassie Howard in the HBO series ‘Euphoria’, particularly her nude and topless scenes, but the actress feels that these scenes have since caused people to downplay her acting talent and focus more on her looks.

“I have big boobs, I’m blond and that’s all I have,” the actress said in an interview with The Sun, but she is determined to prove her critics wrong.

Throughout her early life and career, the actress has had to deal with negative comments about her body.

“I had boobs before other girls and I felt ostracized for it.”

Since acting in ‘Euphoria’, where Sweeney plays a character who has her own naked videos shared around school, Sweeney has dealt with the sexualization of herself and being mocked for taking on the role. Her scenes from the show were similarly shared around the internet.

“You have a character that goes through the scrutiny of being a sexualized person at school and then an audience that does the same thing.

“I think it’s ridiculous. I’m an artist, I play characters. It makes me want to play characters that p**s people off more.”

The sexualization of her character became so severe that even her family was involved in being tagged in social media posts by online trolls.

“It got to the point where they were tagging my family. My cousins don’t need that. It’s completely disgusting and unfair.”

Despite the negative critics of her role, Sweeney remains proud of her work on ‘Euphoria’.

“I’m very proud of my work in ‘Euphoria.’ I thought it was a great performance. But no one talks about it because I got naked,” she told the Independent.

“When a guy has a sex scene or shows his body, he still wins awards and gets praise. But the moment a girl does it, it’s completely different.”

Sweeney is now set to star in the Spider-Man spinoff ‘Madame Web’, playing Julia Carpener, which is set to be released in 2024, and ‘Americana’, a crime thriller released at this year’s South by Southwest Festival.

She is also slated to star as Barbarella in the upcoming remake of the film of the same name, as well as produce.