Sydney Sweeney Admits to Putting on a ‘Weird Persona’ Because of Her Body

Anyone who’s been following Sydney Sweeney will note that she seems to be a bit of a renaissance woman. The actor has proven herself to be well-rounded. Though she’s not yet completed her degree in business, she’s already a producer and a business owner. Sweeney has also proven herself to be quite the mechanic, having rebuilt her classic cars from the ground up. The Euphoria star is also quite the athlete and has shown off her skills in everything from wakeboarding to MMA fighting. The actor seems hellbent on showing people she’s multifaceted. And it seems that she started doing this because of her body.

Sydney Sweeney struggled with body dysmorphia until she starred in ‘Euphoria’

In the last few years, Sweeney has been candid about the fact that she’s become a lot more comfortable with her body. Interestingly enough, it was Euphoria (and the many nude scenes it required) that helped the Washington native feel more comfortable in the skin she’s in. But it seems that Sweeney’s body confidence was hard won. She’s shared that she’s struggled with body dysmorphia for years, particularly since she hit puberty before her peers.

The actor developed a weird persona in high school to combat the assumptions of her peers

While speaking with GQ UK, Sweeney explained how she felt judged because of her body from a young age. She then shared that she adopted hobbies and a personality that deliberately subverted others’ expectations “I had boobs before other girls, and I felt ostracized for it,” Sweeney explained. “I was embarrassed, and I never wanted to change in the locker room. I think that I put on this weird persona other people had of me because of my body. So I did play every sport, and I studied really hard, and I did everything that people wouldn’t think I would do, to show them that my body doesn’t define who I am.”

Sweeney is deliberately choosing characters that surprise the audience

But it seems that even after high school, Sweeney is still fighting to be seen for who she is. She has expressed that many people in the entertainment industry didn’t take her seriously. Since her Euphoria character, Cassie Howard, was the one who made her a household name, many people mistakenly believed that Sweeney and Cassie were one and the same. But Sweeney continues to subvert expectations by taking on new characters that surprise viewers.

“I like finding characters who challenge the viewer,” Sweeney explained. “I dyed my hair blonde and started dressing up for photoshoots, and people thought that is who I am. I worked really hard to change that perception of myself, especially in high school.”

Being blonde gave Sweeney a complex

It turns out that being blonde was actually messing with Sweeney’s perception of herself. She started speculating about if she could still book roles with her natural hair color. “I’m naturally a brunette — almost all of my life, I was a brunette,” Sweeney shared with Yahoo Life. “I highlighted my hair for Everything Sucks!, but I really went blonde for Euphoria. There was this complex where no one really knew me as brunette Syd, and I didn’t really book as much as I did when I was blonde — but I’m back to brunette because the blonde was killing my hair, and I needed to grow it out a little bit.”

Clearly, Sweeney plans to continue to subvert the expectations that people may have for her. It’s unfortunate that she felt the need to create an entire persona because of her body. However, being well-rounded with many interests has only helped her out in the long run.