Sydney Sweeney says “women empowering other women” isn’t happening in Hollywood: “It is fake and a front”
Sydney Sweeney has said that the idea of women standing up for each other in Hollywood is “fake and a front”.
The topic came up in an interview with Vanity Fair relating to an incident earlier this year where veteran Hollywood producer Carol Baum said Sweeney is “not pretty” and “can’t act” and dismissed Sweeney’s hit rom-com Anyone But You as “unwatchable.”
In response, a representative for Sweeney said in a statement: “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman.
“If that’s what she’s learned in her decades in the industry and feels is appropriate to teach to her students, that’s shameful. To unjustly disparage a fellow female producer speaks volumes about Ms. Baum’s character.”
Now, Sweeney has reflected on the incident. “It’s very disheartening to see women tear other women down, especially when women who are successful in other avenues of their industry see younger talent working really hard — hoping to achieve whatever dreams that they may have — and then trying to bash and discredit any work that they’ve done,” Sweeney said.
“This entire industry, all people say is ‘Women empowering other women.’ None of it’s happening. All of it is fake and a front for all the other shit that they say behind everyone’s back.”
“I mean, there’s so many studies and different opinions on the reasoning behind it,” she continued. “I’ve read that our entire lives, we were raised — and it’s a generational problem — to believe only one woman can be at the top.
“There’s one woman who can get the man. There’s one woman who can be, I don’t know, anything. So then all the others feel like they have to fight each other or take that one woman down instead of being like, ‘Let’s all lift each other up.’ I’m still trying to figure it out. I’m just trying my best over here. Why am I getting attacked?”
In other news, Sweeney celebrated co-star Jude Law’s nude scenes in the upcoming film Eden, saying she is “always supportive of nudity”.
Elsewhere in the Vanity Fair interview, Sweeney was asked on her thoughts on the differences between male and female nudity on film. “This movie hasn’t been seen by a proper audience yet, so I’m not quite sure what people will say about it,” she said.
“I mean, I know I was cheering. I am always very supportive of nudity, of sexual scenes, if the story of the character warrants it. For Jude’s character, it was such a powerful move for him to do, so I wanted to cheer for that. Whether it’s men or women, if it’s for the character it’s for the character, and it tells a story.”
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Emma Wilkes
NME
