She’s the new queen of the small screen thanks to leading roles in HBO megahits “The White Lotus” and “Euphoria” — but Hollywood’s power players didn’t always believe Sydney Sweeney was fit for television.
In a new interview with British GQ, the 24-year-old talked about her teenage years spent struggling to secure gigs, leaving her cash-strapped family living out of a budget motel room.
“A casting director told me once that I will never be on a TV show,” the Spokane, Washington, native revealed. “Now, I’m on some of the biggest shows in the world.”
Sweeney is currently starring in the second season of “Euphoria” — HBO’s nine-time Emmy-nominated teen drama.
While the graphic series has been slammed by D.A.R.E. for “glorifying” substance abuse, it’s become one of the most talked about shows in the world, with its cast getting a cover story for the Cut.
Last year, Sweeney also had a lead role in the limited series “The White Lotus” — which is currently nominated for two Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press named her 2021’s breakthrough entertainer.
The blond beauty is riding high on her success, having recently snapped up her first home for $3 million.
It’s a far cry from her dark days a teenager, which were plagued by financial insecurity.
Sweeney told British GQ that her parents were forced to sell her childhood home in Spokane due to “money troubles.” Sweeney, her parents and her younger brother relocated to Los Angeles so that the actress could break into Hollywood.
But things went from bad to worse, and in 2013, the family were forced to live out of a single Holiday Inn suite on the city’s outskirts for nine months because they were unable to afford to rent a home.
Sweeney candidly admitted to the mag that she woke up in a flood of tears on her 18th birthday because of financial stress.
“I always thought that when I turned 18, I’d have made enough money to buy my parents’ old house back,” Sweeney confessed.
While the star hasn’t bought back the family home, she is enjoying her newfound fortune and her Westwood pad.
After news of the sale broke, she told AP: “Being able to be in a house is such an incredible, humbling, amazing accomplishment that I still can’t believe I was able to pull off.”