It’s been a headline-making year for Sydney Sweeney. While the Anyone But You star doesn’t always weigh in on viral discourse — as she recently told GQ of her controversial American Eagle ad, “I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear” — she’s clearing the air when it comes to conversations about her body.
In a Dec. 4 video interview with Allure, Sweeney and her Housemaid co-star Amanda Seyfried were asked to debunk beauty rumors about themselves. “Let’s debunk them all,” Sweeney said. “I mean, I have never gotten work done. I am so scared of needles, you have no idea.”
While Seyfried countered that cosmetic work can be “really effective once you get older,” Sweeney reiterated her fear. Plus, she went on: “You cannot compare a photo of me from when I was 12 to a photo of me at 26 with professional makeup and lighting. Of course I’m gonna look different! Everybody on social media is insane.”
Seyfried told Sweeney to call her should she ever change her mind. But for now, Sweeney’s simply setting the record straight. “Also, if I did [have work done], you guys, my face would be even,” Sweeney added, explaining that one eyelid opens “a little more than the other” following a childhood wakeboarding accident.
Transforming For A Role
It’s not the first time Sweeney has addressed chatter about her appearance. As she shared in a recent Variety interview, “I have very strong eyebrow muscles. And I had someone tell me to fix my face, or else I’m not going to make it. I should get Botox. I was 16!”
As she did with Allure, she cited her fear of needles — and her desire to “age gracefully” — when explaining why she’s avoided cosmetic work.
Of course, Sweeney certainly welcomes the physical changes that can accompany a role. For her recent biopic, Christy, where she plays the boxer Christy Martin, Sweeney gained more than 30 pounds. “I grew up kickboxing and grappling. I’m a very outdoorsy, athletic person, so to play a character that [required me] to transform myself was a dream,” she told Bustle earlier this year. “I loved every part of it.”
She voiced similar sentiments to GQ, explaining that she’s “always looked at a woman’s body as a very beautiful, powerful tool” — one, in her case, as an actor, that can be used to tell stories.
