‘Women empowering other women in Hollywood is fake’

Anyone But You star Sydney Sweeney has said the idea of women supporting each other in the film and TV industry is “fake”.

In an interview with Vanity Fair, the actress, who’s also known for Euphoria and White Lotus, 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 [stuff] that they say behind everyone’s back.”

Earlier this year, the star hit back at “shameful” comments made about her by a female Hollywood producer who said: “She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?”

Asked about the incident for the latest issue of Vanity Fair, Sweeney said: “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, one of Hollywood’s biggest breakout stars of recent years, went on to discuss why this might be the case.

“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,” she said.

“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 April, Carol Baum, who produced films including Dead Ringers and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, spoke about Sweeney after a film screening.

According to Variety, Baum had said: “There’s an actress who everybody loves now – Sydney Sweeney. I don’t get Sydney Sweeney. I was watching on the plane Sydney Sweeney’s movie [Anyone But You] because I wanted to watch it.

“I wanted to know who she is and why everybody’s talking about her. I watched this unwatchable movie – sorry to people who love this… romantic comedy where they hate each other.”

Baum, who also teaches at the University of Southern California, added: “I said to my class, ‘Explain this girl to me. She’s not pretty, she can’t act. Why is she so hot?’ Nobody had an answer.”

In response, Sweeney’s representative told Variety: “How sad that a woman in the position to share her expertise and experience chooses instead to attack another woman.”