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Sydney Sweeney's bullies were so vicious that the police were called

Sydney Sweeney's bullies were so vicious that the police were called

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Sydney Sweeney says her road to fame was anything but smooth.

In an interview for Glamor magazine's Women of the Year issue, the actress opened up about the challenges she faced as a child trying to break into show business and how those obstacles hindered success their only option.

Sweeney said she was just 12 years old when she became ill with a serious acting illness after spotting a casting notice for a local independent film.

To get some screen time, the teenager sold her dream to her parents by designing a PowerPoint presentation with a five-year business plan. The family then began making the 38-hour round trip between Spokane, Washington and Los Angeles on a regular basis.

And while her parents were more than supportive, the actress says the same couldn't be said for Sweeney's classmates at school.

Sydney Sweeney attends the premiere of "Eden" at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival in September. The star opened up about her rocky road to fame in Glamor magazine's Women of the Year issue.
Sydney Sweeney attends the premiere of “Eden” at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival in September. The star opened up about her rocky road to fame in Glamor magazine's Women of the Year issue.

Rodin Eckenroth via Getty Images

Sweeney told Glamor that other children pursued her relentlessly and she was embarrassed to be around some of the people she grew up with to this day.

She remembers being constantly asked questions that ranged from innocuous and curious to thinly veiled insults.

The cruelest questions attempted to tap into her insecurities. The “Euphoria” star even remembers being told, “When are you going to stop breaking up your family and wasting all their money and just get a real job and have a real life?”

According to Glamour, the bullying became so severe that police had to warn the other children about their behavior.

Speaking to the magazine, Sweeney also opened up about the undeniable influence her dreams had on her parents' relationship.

A few years after the family moved to Los Angeles to help the then-high school student audition, her parents divorced and filed for bankruptcy.

The toll that Sweeney's career ambitions took on her family left her both depressed and increasingly determined, the “The White Lotus” actor said.

“There was a moment where I didn't want to go home, which really made me sad because I felt like a failure,” she told Glamour. “I knew I could never fail because, by and large, my family lost everything.”

After struggling to find her big break for nearly a decade, Sweeney's career began to take off in her early 20s, when she landed roles in The Handmaid's Tale (2017) and Sharp Objects (2018).

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The next year, the critically acclaimed HBO drama Euphoria premiered, in which she showcased her talent in the role of complicated high school student Cassie Howard.

Although Sweeney has been forced to navigate years of tension, both at home and in the outside world, she told Glamor that she doesn't hold it against the people who once ridiculed her.

“I'm never one to hold a grudge,” she told Glamour. “I don't believe that the perception of the world can change through hate. Hate solves nothing.”

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