While Los Angeles is one of the American cities that entertainers flock to in order to become a film or TV star, actress Sydney Sweeney also thinks the financial pressure the town can create contributed to her parents’ divorce.
Sweeney and her family relocated to Hollywood from the Pacific Northwest so that she could pursue acting full time.
“Whether or not that was because of coming here, it definitely was a catalyst for it,” Sweeney said about her parents’ breakup. “So I knew I had to succeed in some capacity so that it wasn’t for nothing.”
The 27-year-old, who rose to fame after being cast in two hit HBO television shows, made the comments about her family while discussing her acting career with Glamour Magazine on Oct. 3.
Roles in HBO’s “Euphoria” and “White Lotus” earned her Emmy nominations.
“Sydney’s story surprised me—especially the lengths her parents went to support her dreams,” Atlanta film critic Tatyana Arrington told The Epoch Times. “Sydney has expressed guilt over breaking up her family, and I think part of her success is driven by wanting to overcompensate.”
Sweeney has also hosted “Saturday Night Live,” starred in “Madame Web” with Dakota Johnson, and executive produced the highly successful “Anyone But You” using her production company Fifty-Fifty Films.
“It’s just been in the last five years that my life has changed and grown,” Sweeney told Glamour. “Most of my life, I was a completely normal person. You guys didn’t see it because I wasn’t famous.”
Her trajectory to fame and fortune started when Sweeney was a child living near the Idaho and Washington state border.
For nearly two years, Sweeney’s parents drove 38 hours back and forth so that she could audition in Los Angeles.
At just 12 years old, Sweeney created a five-year business plan using a PowerPoint presentation as a tool to influence her parents to relocate to Los Angeles permanently so that she could pursue a full-time acting career. The plan worked.
“It shows that she was a precocious child who, it seems, was more sophisticated and intelligent than her 12 years suggests,” Bend, Oregon-based physician Dr. David Campbell told The Epoch Times. “To have such a prodigious mind at such a young age is quite unusual and reflects a serious, capable, and determined personality.”
A few years later, however, the move to Los Angeles took its toll on the Sweeneys. In 2016, Sweeney’s parents joined the number of couples who ended their union in divorce.
“There was a moment where I stopped wanting to go home, which made me really sad because I felt like a failure,” Sweeney said. “I knew that I could never actually fail because, I mean, on a very broad scale, my family did lose everything.”
California divorce attorney Holly Moore isn’t surprised by Sweeney associating her parents’ divorce with relocating to Hollywood.
“The entertainment industry is fierce, competitive, and financially stressful, especially when you’re trying to make it without a guaranteed deal,” Moore told The Epoch Times.
“Sydney’s situation is not unheard of. I’ve seen numerous families endure stress for similar reasons,” she added.
“Living in an oftentimes highly stressful, commonly cruel, frequently judgmental, inconsistent, capricious, nepotistic, insincere, untrustworthy and disloyal environment, which Hollywood can be at times, can play havoc with one’s mental health and, if not addressed, can set off a chain reaction that can destroy a family,” Campbell said.
The same year they divorced, the Sweeneys also filed for bankruptcy.
The financial pressures that can come with moving to a town that is known to be more expensive can create pressure on families and wreak havoc at home, according to Campbell.
“My first car was my grandparents’ old Volvo,” Sweeney told Glamour. “I had to jump-start it to get it to go. The bottom casing fell off while I was driving. Oil would spill everywhere, so I always had cardboard to put under the car so it didn’t stain anybody’s driveway.”
These days, Sweeney doesn’t have to worry about her finances so much. She paid off her mom’s mortgage and purchased a dream boat for her uncle.
“I’ve accomplished and bought everything myself, and I provide for myself and my family,” she said.
Sweeney, though, is careful with money.
“I come from a family where I saw my parents lose everything, and I am terrified of that,“ she told Glamour. ”That fear will always be instilled in me. I’m a huge saver. I don’t just go and spend money. I like to invest. I like real estate. I like making, hopefully, smart choices with the money I’m making. But I don’t think I’ll ever actually feel comfortable.”
Sweeney did not respond to requests for comment by publication time.
