Sydney Sweeney says comments about taking a break from acting were "taken out of context"

In July, Sydney Sweeney made headlines for saying she couldn’t afford to press pause on her career: “If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have income to cover that. I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help,” she told The Hollywood Reporter. Further, she expressed a desire to be a “young mom,” but admitted concerns “about how this industry puts stigmas on young women who have children” and “that, if I don’t work, there is no money and no support for kids I would have.”

Now, in a new interview for Elle, Sweeney takes issue with the narrative that emerged from those THR quotes. “I was asked if I wanted to have a family and I said yes. And then I was asked why I didn’t have one yet, and I was like, I don’t have time to take even, like, a six-month break. Like, I don’t have time to be able to start this family. I’m working so much and I’m focusing on that right now,” she says. “And so it was kind of skewed with the public and taken out of context, which was insane to watch and kind of disappointing, too, because I think that being a mother, and a working mother, is really important. I really want to achieve that one day. So I was disappointed that people took my words and changed them [to serve] their own agenda.”

It’s unclear in what way Sweeney felt her quotes had been “skewed.” Contextually, it’s possible she felt her comments pitted her against working moms. In Elle, she also seems to frame the issue more around focusing on her professional life (completely reasonable for a 25-year-old actor) than financial issues. However, she was quite specific about her financial concerns for THR (payments to lawyers, managers, and agents are “more than [her] mortgage,” she revealed), so it’s hard to say what part of the interview was misinterpreted.

In any case, The White Lotus star has good reason to be sensitive about her media coverage. Reflecting on the similarities between her own experiences and that of her Euphoria character, she says, “I was highly sexualized in high school because I had boobs. It’s kind of funny: What was being said about Cassie in Euphoria, the public then decided to do to me in real life. Which I thought was so crazy, because we were trying to show a character who was so hypersexualized, and what could have been the cause and effects for her. And they just continue to do it.”

If Sweeney has felt a lack of safety and comfort in the public eye (“I wish someone would’ve told me how much, as Sydney, I would have to speak, because I feel safer in my characters”), she at least feels a sense of security on set. “We are in such a great time right now in the industry where we have intimacy coordinators, and I’ve always felt comfortable with mine,” she says. “They’re very collaborative and very supportive. I think it’s important for every set to have one.”