Sydney Sweeney’s family ‘walked out’ when they watched her racy ‘Euphoria’ scenes
Sydney Sweeney says that some of her family members couldn’t stomach watching some of her scenes on HBO’s “Euphoria.”
In a “Sunday Sitdown” interview with NBC, the 25-year-old actor revealed that her father and grandfather weren’t “prepared” to see her play Cassie on the explicit high school drama.
“My mom knew because my mom visited set quite a few times, so she knew the story and I talked to her a lot about it,” Sweeney said when Sunday’s “Today” show host Willie Geist asked about her family’s reaction to graphic scenes. “My dad didn’t. I didn’t prepare my dad. At all.”
Now shooting Marvel’s Spider-Man universe action film, “Madame Web,” the young actor has shed her early struggles and self-doubts.
Sweeney’s character, Cassie, is a sensitive and misguided former figure skater who is often perceived as promiscuous as she navigates toxic relationships. Throughout the show, Cassie has appeared partially naked in multiple sexual scenes.
“How do you bring up a conversation? When I talk to my dad it’s usually not about work. It’s usually just, ‘Hey, Dad,’” she said, laughing.
“So he decided he was going to watch it without telling me, with his parents. My dad and my grandpa turned it off and walked out.”
Sweeney also revealed on “Today” that her grandmother is her “biggest supporter” and gets to be an extra on some of the sets she works on “all over the world.”
It’s not the first time Sweeney’s family has made headlines. Last August, after criticism arose over photos from her mother’s 60th birthday party, the actor asked people to “please stop making assumptions” about her family and their political affiliations.
‘When I didn’t want to do it, he didn’t make me,’ Sydney Sweeney said of her experience objecting to nude scenes on Sam Levinson’s ‘Euphoria.’
“The White Lotus” actress said she always felt safe speaking up against some nude scenes in the show.
“There are moments where Cassie was supposed to be shirtless and I would tell [creator and director Sam Levinson], ‘I don’t really think that’s necessary here,’” Sweeney told the Independent.
“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.”
Between “Euphoria” and “The Idol,” the showrunner’s sexualization of young women has been one of the main criticisms of his work. Both on and off screen, screenshots of Sweeney’s nude scenes circulated on social media. Some tagged her younger brother in the images, which Sweeney denounced as “the most hurtful thing anyone could do.”
“What I do is completely separate from my family,” she said in the Independent. “My character is completely separate to me. It’s just so disrespectful and distressing.”
Sweeney recently starred in the Max Original film “Reality” and is filming the Spider-verse film “Madame Web,” which is scheduled for release in February 2024.
But due to Levinson’s and series star Zendaya’s busy filming schedules and now the WGA strike, HBO drama chief Francesca Orsi told Deadline that fans — including Sweeney’s family — won’t see a Season 3 of “Euphoria” before 2025.
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