LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Sydney Sweeney, 25, with two Emmy nominations in her kitty, and numerous upcoming projects, is one of the most prominent rising stars of Hollywood. Sweeney who's all set to hit the screens with HBO’s ‘Reality’ in the first week of June, rose to fame with shows like ‘Euphoria’ and ‘The White Lotus’. While she is now one of the busiest young actresses and has recently bought a $3 million house in Los Angeles, this wasn't always the case.
In fact, there was a time when the Sweeney family had to leave their home in Spokane, Washington, and settle into a motel in Los Angeles. Her parents uprooted themselves from their hometown so that the ‘Euphoria’ star could pursue her Hollywood dream. Sweeney, who now reportedly has a whopping net worth of $7 million, on her part, has never shied away from speaking out about her financial struggles or her family's erstwhile poverty.
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‘We lived in one room’
‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ star revealed, “After we moved to LA so I could act, finances were a huge stress,” in a 2022 tell-all interview with Cosmopolitan. Sweeney, who left her hometown when she was 16, said, “My dad lost his job and we went bankrupt. They always say, 'It wasn’t your fault.' It was.” To save money, the family reportedly camped in a Burbank Holiday Inn. “We lived in one room. My mom and I shared a bed and my dad and little brother shared a couch,” Sweeney said in an interview as reported by Seventeen.
As it has always been, success comes with many sacrifices. The divorce of Sweeney's parents shook her relationship with her brother, Trent. Sweeney said, “And when my parents were getting a divorce, my brother blamed me. But at first, I think they enjoyed LA. It was an escape from routine. That’s what I tell myself. There was definitely a different, rough route that I could have taken,” adding, “When you’re an actor who’s a minor, a small percentage of your paychecks goes into a bank account you can’t access until you’re 18. I naively thought I was going to have all this money, and I had this grand plan for it.”
The young star then naively thought she could accumulate enough money to bring her family together and get her “mom’s dream house” back. The ‘Sharp Objects’ actress then said, “When we left Spokane for LA, we had to sell the house I grew up in. It was my mom’s dream house. So when I turned 18, it wasn’t even a year after my parents divorced and I thought, I’m going to buy this house back and I’ll save everyone. I’ll get my family back together. Turns out, I had nowhere near enough money. I never cried more in my entire life.”
‘They don't pay actors like they used to’
Sweeney, who is also the think tank for her production company, Fifty-Fifty Films, candidly talked about the Hollywood payscale and the hidden costs incurred by a celebrity to maintain the glamorous lifestyle. Sweeney said, "They don't pay actors like they used to, and with streamers, you no longer get residuals," before explaining, “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," in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
Describing her reason for taking up multiple brand endorsements, the Armani Beauty ambassador said, "I take deals because I have to.” Otherwise, it will be difficult for her to maintain the lifestyle of LA, stated the ‘Frankies Bikinis’ collaborator.
‘I couldn’t believe I was able to buy a house’
However, after years of hard work and multiple compromises later, the ‘Anyone But You’ star has become the proud owner of a $3 million mansion in Los Angeles. “I couldn’t believe I was even able to buy a house,” before adding, “I want to be able to stay there,” Sweeney shared in her Seventeen interview.
