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Sydney Sweeney’s role on the new season of Euphoria has been controversial in more ways than one. On-screen, her character Cassie has been betraying her best friend Maddy, breaking the ultimate girl code by sleeping with Maddy’s ex-boyfriend. Off-screen, the amount of nudity Sweeney shows as Cassie has been the subject of much debate, with many noting that despite the show’s diverse casting, the most ‘traditionally’ hot character—blonde, petite, big-breasted—is the one who’s almost always showing the most skin.
Now, in a new interview, Sweeney has opened up about her on-screen nudity, saying it didn’t come without concern. “When I saw The Voyeurs [Sweeney’s 2021 film] for the first time, I wondered if I’d done too much,” she admitted. “I researched celebrities who have done nude scenes, trying to make myself feel better.”
“There are hour-long compilations of world-famous male actors with nude scenes who win Oscars and get praised for that work,” she continued. “But the moment a woman does it, it degrades them. They’re not actresses. They just take off their tops so they can get a role.”
Sweeney added she’s felt this on a personal level: “I don’t think as many people took me seriously in Euphoria because I took my shirt off,” she pointed out, before revealing her role on The White Lotus had been a “turning point” for which she finally received praise as an actor. “There’s such a double standard,” she said, adding, “I really hope I can have a little part in changing that.”
As far as watching her on-screen nudity back goes, Sweeney says it feels more like she’s watching someone else. “I’m so disconnected from it,” she said. “When I get tagged in Cassie’s or The Voyeurs’ Pippa’s nudes, it feels like me looking at their nudes, not Sydney’s nudes.”
“When you film one of these scenes, it is so technical and so not romantic,” she added. “There are people staring at you, there’s pads between you, there’s nipple covers and weird sticker thongs all up in your butt.”
