Hollywood star Sydney Sweeney has hit out at what she calls "false" statements about female empowerment in the entertainment industry.
Sweeney made the comments in an interview with Vanity Fair, in response to widespread comments from Hollywood producer Carol Baum earlier this year, who claimed Sweeney was "not pretty" and "can't act".
At the time, Sweeney's team released a statement calling the comments "disgraceful," CNN reported.
Now the actress and producer has hit back herself and linked the disparaging remarks to what she says is a wider problem in the industry.
"It's very disheartening to see women tearing other women down, especially when women who have been successful in other areas of the industry see younger talent working really hard - hoping to achieve whatever dreams they have - and then trying to ruin and discredit any work they've done," Sweeney said.
"This whole industry, all people say is 'women empowering other women.' None of this happens. It's all fake and a cover for all the other crap they're talking behind everyone's back.”
"I mean, there are so many studies and different opinions about the reasons behind it," she continued.
"I've read that all our lives we've been brought up - and this is a generational problem - to believe that only one woman can be at the top. There is only one woman who can get the man. There's only one woman who can be, I don't know, anything," Sweeney said.
"And then everyone else feels like they have to fight each other or put that one woman down instead of saying, 'Let's all lift each other up.' I'm still trying to figure it out. I'm just trying to do my best here. Why are they attacking me?'
Sweeney, whose roles in "Euphoria" and "White Lotus" earned her two Emmy nominations, is currently working on a biopic about famous boxer Christy Martin, and shared an update on the project on Instagram in October.
In the post, Sweeney wrote that she was "immersed in training to bring the story of an incredible woman to life."
She shared two photos of herself from the set, wearing a red t-shirt that showed off the physical results of her workouts, as well as a '90s-style curly hairdo.
In the caption, Sweeney described Martin, who is considered the most successful female boxer and a pioneer in the inclusion of women in the sport, as "a true champion who fights both in and out of the ring." | BGNES
