CNN –
Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney has criticized what she called “false” statements about women’s empowerment in the entertainment industry.
Sweeney made the comments in an interview with Vanity Fair published on Wednesday, in response to widely reported comments made earlier this year by Hollywood producer Carol Baum, who said Sweeney “isn’t pretty” and “can’t act.” .
At the time, Sweeney’s team issued a statement calling the comments “disgraceful.”
Now, the actress and producer has hit back, linking the insulting remarks to what she says is a broader problem in the industry.
“It’s very frustrating to see women tearing down other women, especially when women who are successful in other areas of their industry see young talent working hard — hoping to achieve whatever dreams they may have — and then try to undermine and discredit any business they’ve done,” Sweeney said. “.
“This whole industry, as everyone says, is ‘women empowering other women’. None of that is happening. It’s all fake and a front for all the other things they say behind everyone’s back.
“I mean there are a lot of different studies and opinions about the reasons behind this,” she continued.
“I’ve read that throughout our lives, we’ve been brought up — and it’s a generational problem — to believe that only one woman can be at the top. There’s one woman who can get the man. There’s one woman who can, I don’t know, be anything,” Sweeney said. .
“And so the others all feel like they have to fight each other or take that woman down instead of saying, ‘Let’s all lift each other up.’ I’m still trying to figure that out. I’m just doing the best I can here. Why should I get attacked?”
Sweeney, who received two Emmy nominations for her roles in Euphoria and The White Lotus, is currently working on a biopic about famed boxer Christy Martin, and in October she shared an update about the project on Instagram.
Sweeney wrote in the post that she was “immersed in training to bring the story of an amazing woman to life.”
She shared two photos of herself on set wearing a red muscle shirt showcasing the physical results of her training, along with a ’90s-style curly hairstyle.
In commentary, Sweeney went on to describe Martin — widely considered the most successful female boxer and a pioneer for the integration of women into the sport — “a true champion who has fought battles in and out of the ring.”
