Modern Hollywood is an industry that encourages young women to choose their careers over starting their own traditional families.
In a world, where actresses like Michelle Williams are given Academy Awards for choosing careers over children and comedians like Cecily Strong are celebrated for shouting about their abortions, one actress is pushing back against the stigma of young mothers.
Star of HBO’s Euphoria and the upcoming Sony film ‘Madame Web‘ Sydney Sweeney recently did an interview with The Hollywood Reporter about her desire and concerns with having a child and starting a family while she is still young.
The actress was very candid about her desire to start a family and be a young mom. “I want to have a family, I’ve always wanted to be a young mom, and I’m worried about how this industry puts stigmas on young women who have children and looks at them in a different light,” Sweeney said.
The 24-year-old actress then shared her worries, “I was worried that, if I don’t work, there is no money and no support for kids I would have.”
Sweeney continued, “If I wanted to take a six-month break, I don’t have the income to cover that. I don’t have someone supporting me, I don’t have anyone I can turn to, to pay my bills or call for help.”
When asked about her finances as a young Hollywood rising star, Sweeney told the outlet that working in Hollywood isn’t as profitable as it used to be.
“They don’t pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals,” Sweeney explained.
“The established stars still get paid, but I have to give 5 percent to my lawyer, 10 percent to my agents, 3 percent or something like that to my business manager. I have to pay my publicist every month, and that’s more than my mortgage for my 3 million dollar home,” she detailed.
In fact, Sweeney claims that she’s at her limit on the house in Los Angeles telling The Hollywood Reporter, “I couldn’t believe I was even able to buy a house.”
Sweeney makes it clear that she wouldn’t be able to afford all of this if she just acted explaining why she’s an ambassador for Miu Miu and is an Armani beauty campaign, ““If I just acted, I wouldn’t be able to afford my life in L.A. I take deals because I have to.”
Family and money are two issues that hit home hard for Sweeney. When the Euphoria star talked about starting out as an actress, her biggest motivation was to buy her parents a house after they sold their home in Washington State to move to overpriced Los Angeles in order for her to pursue her acting dreams.
During their time of financial hardship struggling in the Los Angeles housing market, Sweeney’s family had to live in a motel sharing a single room. “We lived in one room. My mom and I shared a bed and my dad and little brother shared a couch,” she explained.
The financial strains appeared to start weighing on the family as The Hollywood Reporter notes, “her parents’ relationship started falling apart, a combination she says of losing their home and savings and the strain of the disapproval of their life moves by family and friends back in Washington.”
Sweeney wanted to repair their relationship but lacked the early success that kept her from achieving that goal. “I thought that if I made enough money, I’d be able to buy my parents’ house back and that I’d be able to put my parents back together, but when I turned 18, I only had $800 to my name. My parents weren’t back together and there was nothing I could do to help.”
Sydney Sweeney is set to star in the latest Spider-Man spinoff film film Madame Web alongside Dakota Johnson. She also earned an Emmy Nomination for her role in the HBO series The White Lotus.