‘None of it’s happening’: Sydney Sweeney calls BS on Hollywood industry’s ‘fake’ display of women empowering women

In recent years, many women in Hollywood have spoken up about sisterhood and lifting other women up, but one claims it’s all talk and no action. In a recent interview, Sydney Sweeney had a lot to say about fake feminism in the industry, and her frustration feels all too familiar.

The Euphoria star spoke with Vanity Fair and was asked what she thought about other women in Hollywood who have spoken out about the criticisms that female performers face. Sweeney didn’t hold back. “It’s very disheartening to see women tear other women down,” she said, “especially when women who are successful in other avenues of their industry see younger talent working really hard.”

However, according to Sweeney, even those who call for changes in the industry are just being performative. “This entire industry, all people say is ‘Women empowering other women.’ None of it’s happening,” Sweeney claimed. “All of it is fake and a front for all the other shit that they say behind everyone’s back.” The White Lotus star speculated that it’s “a generational problem,” saying, “we were raised to believe only one woman can be at the top. So then all the others feel like they have to fight each other or take that one woman down instead of being like, let’s all lift each other up.”

The interviewer specifically mentioned Anne Hathaway as one of the women in Hollywood who is very vocal about female empowerment, but it seems Sweeney isn’t buying it. During a speech given at ELLE Magazine’s 29th annual Women in Hollywood event in 2022, Hathaway gave a nod to fellow honoree, Sweeney, saying she was “very happy” for the young actress.

“Be happy for women. Period. Especially be happy for high-achieving women,” Hathaway said. She praised all of the event’s honorees and insisted, “myself, alongside innumerable women and men in Hollywood and beyond are working really, really, really hard to make a better culture.”

However, Sweeney’s comments about “fake” displays of empowerment could be a subtle response to Hathaway’s claims two years ago. To be fair to Hathaway, Sweeney’s critiques of feminism in Hollywood are largely a disillusionment with the industry as a whole—and she’s not wrong to feel that way.

The latest USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative report (which measures gender, ethnicity, and age representation in the top grossing movies), found that 2023 had a significant decrease in roles for women. According to the study, in 2023 there were just 30 movies featuring women and girls in lead and co-lead roles. It’s a large drop from the previous year’s study in 2022, which found 44 movies that fit the criteria. The lack of female roles in 2023 comes as a bit of a shock, considering that was the year of Barbie summer. 

“This is a catastrophic step back for girls and women in film,” lead researcher Dr. Stacy L. Smith concluded. “These numbers are more than just a metric of how often girls and women are in protagonist roles,” she explained. “They represent the career opportunities offered to women in the film industry.” Smith added that even adjusting for movies that were pushed to 2024 due to the writer’s strike, opportunities for women were “drastically constricted” in 2023, and called it “an industry failure.” The industry-wide collapse of women’s opportunities shows that Hathaway and the other industry leaders “working really, really, really hard” to change things apparently aren’t making an impact. Hollywood is such a competitive (and largely appearance-driven) industry, it isn’t hard to imagine women being pitted against each other. It seems sisterhood only goes so far when only a select few can make their way into Hollywood’s A-list.