{"id":183461,"date":"2025-12-14T15:10:12","date_gmt":"2025-12-14T15:10:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/183461\/"},"modified":"2025-12-14T15:10:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-14T15:10:12","slug":"i-have-a-normal-life-outside-of-th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/183461\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I have a normal life outside of th"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is a world in which Sydney Sweeney is a young, beautiful, talented actress working hard behind the scenes and earning success through her performances on both the big and small screen. But there\u2019s another universe \u2014 one spreading across social media \u2014 where today\u2019s most talked\u2011about American star isn\u2019t even a real person, but a vaporous, curvaceous online entity with a generous neckline, a wide smile, \u201cgreat jeans,\u201d and massive public attention reflected in paparazzi shots and gossip columns. <\/p>\n

Somehow, Sweeney, 28, must balance her real life with how she\u2019s portrayed in the media and on Instagram. \u201cI have a normal life outside of that,\u201d she says in an exclusive interview with ynet.<\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney <\/p>\n

(Photo: Richard Shotwell\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

These two sides of her life feed into each other and often collide \u2014 as with her controversial American Eagle commercial<\/a>, in which she appeared in a denim outfit heralded as a symbol of ideal human genetics. That episode, blown far out of proportion, helped cement stereotypes of her as a beautiful blonde and sex symbol<\/a>. Unsurprisingly, that perception has driven her to pursue roles that challenge the media image \u2014 most notably in the drama “Christy,” in which she stars as boxer Christy Martin, a trailblazer for women under the spotlight of the boxing ring whose private life was scarred by hardship.In “Christy,” directed by Australian filmmaker David Mich\u00f4d (The King of the Animals), Sweeney dives into the body, bones, muscles, and heart of Martin. <\/a>The film follows Martin\u2019s life from her late\u20111980s youth through her final fights before officially retiring in 2011 at age 42. Sweeney was cast to portray Martin at different stages of her life and the many upheavals she faced: a sheltered young woman living in her conservative parents\u2019 home (Merritt Wever and Ethan Embry); a forced marriage to abusive trainer James Martin (Ben Foster); unprecedented athletic success that earned a promising contract with promoter Don King; the decline toward the end of her career; and her redemption, including coming out with her partner, fellow boxer Lisa Holgate (Katie O\u2019Brien).<\/p>\n

Known largely for roles as glamorous young women in the vein of Cassie Howard from “Euphoria,” Sweeney was tasked with carrying this complex character through multiple phases of life, requiring enormous emotional commitment and a physical transformation to match Martin\u2019s muscular frame. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time I take on a role, I want to give it everything I have,\u201d Sweeney tells ynet. \u201cBut here I wanted to give even more than I knew was in me. Christy is such a special, amazing woman, and a role model every girl and woman deserves to have in their life. I understood the weight of her story, so it was a very important process for me. This is a very important character, and it will probably be the most unique project I\u2019ve been a part of.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney in ‘Christy’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Courtesy of Forum Film)<\/p>\n

The physical transformation took about three and a half months and included increased calorie intake to gain weight, strength training and kickboxing to build muscle, and even a mullet\u2011inspired hairstyle of the era. It was a complex process that gave her a radically different appearance from the Sweeney the public knows on screen. \u201cMy body completely changed. My clothes didn\u2019t fit me anymore,\u201d she told Deadline ahead of the film\u2019s U.S. release. \u201cMy chest grew, my butt grew. It was crazy.\u201d But despite commendable dedication to fitting the role, paparazzi photos that captured her mid\u2011transformation were met with ridicule and resistance against her previous \u201cpretty doll\u201d image.<\/p>\n

Though not a flattering experience, Sweeney says she\u2019s developed a thick skin and understands the audience\u2019s impatience with the challenges she embraces. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve been really lucky because I\u2019ve gotten to play so many juicy, fun, challenging and complex characters,\u201d she explains to ynet. \u201cI think I\u2019ve played some characters that became very popular in contemporary culture, especially Cassie. People dive into that and love it. They struggle to separate me from the characters I play. The more I play, the more confused they get, and they tell themselves, \u2018Oh, she is all those people.\u2019 But I say, \u2018Those are characters. That\u2019s not who I really am. It\u2019s art. It\u2019s what I get to do. It\u2019s what I get to be part of.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney says fans ‘struggle to separate me from the characters I play’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Brendon Thorne\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Like Christy Martin of West Virginia or Penny Jo Poplin \u2014 the young, stuttering woman from South Dakota that Sweeney portrayed in Tony Tost\u2019s action\u2011comedy “Americana” \u2014 Sweeney herself grew up on the periphery of the United States. She was raised in Spokane, Washington, near the Idaho border \u2014 a rural area associated with conservative values and Republican support that her family embodied for five generations. With that background behind her, Sweeney\u2019s breakthrough into the liberal\u2011leaning American entertainment world was not easy.<\/p>\n

In an interview marking the U.S. release of “Americana,” director Tony Tost told ynet he believes Hollywood recoils from Sweeney\u2019s meteoric rise because she didn\u2019t grow up within Hollywood\u2019s ecosystem. That resistance turned into genuine hostility amid the American Eagle ad controversy, which earned her a supportive tweet from former President Donald Trump but further alienated her from the industry\u2019s inner circles. <\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney in ‘Americana’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Ursula Coyote courtesy of Lionsgate)<\/p>\n

\u201cIt hurts her in the industry, in my opinion,\u201d Tost said. \u201cIt\u2019s a closed members\u2019 club with people from similar backgrounds who stick to rules about how to speak, how to dress, and how to behave in the cultural world. She came from outside, and as far as I can tell, she has no interest in playing that game. I think in the long run it will help her career.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sweeney acknowledges that Hollywood isn\u2019t her natural environment and that adapting was not easy. She says her family\u2019s home \u2014 far from the noise of Los Angeles \u2014 keeps her grounded and connected to a normal life, if only for short periods. \u201cI didn\u2019t grow up in Hollywood, and I was raised on traditional small\u2011town values, surrounded by friends and family,\u201d she shares in the interview.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know anyone in the industry, and my parents knew nothing about Hollywood, so we had no connections. We had to learn everything on the fly,” she says. “And it was hard \u2014 really hard. It took a long time. I started when I was about 10, and only at 19 did I begin getting significant roles that opened doors to others. It required hard work and many sacrifices. And I really appreciate my parents, my family, my friends. These worlds are very different, and the values are different, and I love going home and returning to solid ground. Being surrounded by normalcy. My parents and family bring me back to earth, and it\u2019s amazing. I think that\u2019s important for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Sydney Sweeney’s rise to fame ‘ required hard work and many sacrifices’ <\/p>\n

(Photo: Evan Agostini\/Invision\/AP)<\/p>\n

Now at the peak of her career, with an extensive network, does she still feel like an outsider? \u201cI don\u2019t know if \u2018outsider\u2019 is the right word,\u201d she responds. \u201cDid I know anyone in the industry? No. At holidays I go home and spend weekends with my childhood friends. I never really cared about the Hollywood scene or parties or those things. So I don\u2019t know if I feel like an outsider. Is there something people born into it understand that I don\u2019t? Probably. But I also have many great friends in the industry, and I\u2019ve built many relationships and wonderful projects with everyone. But I also have a normal life outside of it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There is a world in which Sydney Sweeney is a young, beautiful, talented actress working hard behind the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":183462,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-183461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=183461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/183461\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/183462"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=183461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=183461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=183461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}