Sydney Sweeney: ‘I had boobs before other girls and I felt ostracised’

Eurphoria star Sydney Sweeney has opened up about the “shame” she felt when her breasts developed earlier than those of her peers.

Euphoria and White Lotus star Sydney Sweeney.

Sydney Sweeney has some feelings to get off her chest.

The Euphoria star, 25, reflected on her teenage years and the shame she felt when her breasts developed earlier than her peers’.

“I had boobs before other girls, and I felt ostracised for it,” Sweeney said in a recent Sun profile.

Similar to the way people focused on her body as a teen, she’s been publicly bullied for revealing her body in her acting career, and she constantly feels pressure to fight people’s misconceptions about her.

“I have big boobs, I’m blonde and that’s all I have,” she said of other people’s flawed assumption of the sum of her talents.

Sweeney says she knows some people think ‘blonde and big boobs’ is the sum of her talents. Picture: Dominique Charriau/WireImage

The star has faced criticism and over-sexualisation for acting in nude scenes for her hit HBO show while embodying the character of Cassie Howard. Screenshots of her nude scenes from the show have since circulated online by online trolls, some of whom tagged her family in the photos.

“My cousins don’t need that. It’s completely disgusting and unfair,” said Sweeney.

“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,” she said.

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

The White Lotus actress divulged last year that she will always be happy about her work on Euphoria — no matter what the critics say.

Sweeney has copped flak for her nude scenes - but argues male actors are held to a different standard. Picture: Kevin Winter/Getty

Sweeney told the Independent: “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.”

“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? Did you not see that in The Handmaid’s Tale?” Sweeney sighed.

Sweeney then described the stigma against women who take their clothes off on-screen, stating: “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 said her family has been supportive of her artistic choices.

In March 2022, Sweeney talked about her family on The Ellen Show, admitting that she forgot about her naked scenes on Euphoria when she invited her grandparents to the Season 2 premiere.

However, she joked that they didn’t mind, and that they said she has “the best t**s in Hollywood.”

In addition to being sexualised, Sweeney has been the target of body-shaming. She posted a tearful Instagram post in 2021, denouncing online bullies for calling her ugly.

Sweeney says her family is ok with her nude scenes, even joking about them.

Sweeney also recently called out social media trolls. Picture: Getty

“People need to be nicer on social media,” she said at the time. “Because this is really f**ked up.” Sweeney has acted in some of television’s most popular shows, but finding work wasn’t always easy.

In a chat with British GQ published last February, Sweeney admitted that she spent much of her teen years struggling to find acting gigs.

She then confessed how a casting director even shunned her and told her that she would never make it on television. Her rise to stardom did not come without obstacles.

Sweeney shared that when she was growing up, she and her family struggled financially and had to live in motel rooms on more than one occasion.

Her parents eventually had to sell her childhood home in Spokane, Washington, due to their financial woes. Sweeney later moved to Los Angeles with her family so she could pursue acting.

Sweeney’s acting career shows no signs of slowing down. She’s set to star in Spider-Man spin-off Madame Web and Sony’s Barbarella remake, which are due to be released next year.

This story originally appeared on Page Six and is republished here with permission.