A supportive set. Sydney Sweeney described her experience approaching Euphoria creator Sam Levinson about cutting some of her character Cassie’s nude scenes.
“There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell Sam, ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here,’” the actress, 24, told Independent on Sunday, January 23. “He was like, ‘OK, we don’t need it.’ I’ve never felt like Sam has pushed it on me or was trying to get a nude scene into an HBO show. When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me.”
The Washington native compared this experience to other sets throughout her career where she didn’t feel the ability to “speak up,” saying, “I’ve had experiences where I want to go home and scrub myself completely raw because I feel disgusting. I didn’t feel comfortable with my castmate or the crew, and I just didn’t feel like my character would be doing it.”
The White Lotus alum has faced “disrespectful and distressing” cyberbullying over her nude scenes, she went on to tell the outlet, noting that there is a “stigma” against female stars who are naked onscreen.
“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,” the Everything Sucks! alum said. “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 the 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?”
In May 2021, the Sharp Objects alum took to Instagram Live to respond to haters calling her “ugly” on Twitter.
“I think it’s really important for people to see how words actually affect people,” Sweeney in her tearful social media upload at the time. “I know everyone says, ‘You can’t read things,’ and ‘You shouldn’t read things,’ but, like, I’m a f–king person. I’m just sitting here with my dog, Tink, watching HGTV, wearing my Snuggie. People need to be nicer on social media because it’s really f–ked up.”
The Handmaid’s Tale alum told Collider six months prior that she’s “not … super confident,” saying, “I care what people say and what they think and what they comment, so I definitely am always like, ‘Oh, my God, should I post this?’”
