“Sydney Sweeney’s co-star says the actress is weathering Hollywood’s nastiest storms with ‘unbelievable’ strength – even as the spotlight grows darker and more intense.”, — write: www.dailymail.co.uk
The Christy star has been thrust into the cultural pressure cooker, but according to Ben Foster — who plays opposite the 28-year-old as Christy Martin’s coach-turned-husband — she’s refusing to crack.
Foster, 45, says watching Sweeney work left him stunned.
‘Sydney is her own force. She came in extremely prepared, knew the crew’s names, was always ready to work,’ he told The Independent.
‘I’d be knackered at the end of the day, and she’d go train for another three hours to fight the next morning … She’s a powerhouse.’
Few rising stars have needed stamina like Sweeney, who earlier this year ignited a full-blown cultural firestorm when American Eagle released a tongue-in-cheek campaign playing on her ‘good jeans’ and ‘good genes.’
What started as harmless wordplay exploded online, with detractors accusing the ad of promoting ‘white supremacy,’ ‘eugenics’ and even ‘Nazism.’
The outrage only escalated when reports resurfaced that Sweeney is a registered Republican — a detail that instantly sent woke corners of social media into meltdown.
It wasn’t her first taste of controversy, either.
In 2022, she faced backlash after sharing photos from her mother’s 60th birthday featuring ‘Make Sixty Great Again’ hats and relatives wearing ‘Blue Lives Matter’ shirts, triggering another wave of online outrage.
Foster says watching Sweeney navigate the chaos — from body-shaming debates to political dogpiling — only made him admire her more.
‘She’s in a zeitgeist worldview that is… unique. And I think she’s handling it incredibly well. She’s a powerhouse,’ he added.
He even praised her command of social media, a world he refuses to touch.
‘I’m not on any social media at all. And have never been. I think [my representatives] know me better than to push me into that.
‘But she plays in that field. It’s so important to this generation, to the future. I find her incredibly impressive.’
Still, Sweeney admitted recently that the pressure can get to her.
She told Sky News she struggles to ask for help because she fears it makes her look ‘weak.’
‘There’s so much expectation on women to have it all together,’ she said. ‘If we ask for help, people think we’re unprepared. A man can ask, and no one cares.’
Even so, she managed to find her escape over Thanksgiving, swapping the tropical Keys for icy lake weather as she posted a video waterskiing in a black wetsuit.
‘42 degrees out and still my happy place,’ she wrote, as fans gushed — one even insisting she should be the next Bond girl.
A few days earlier, Sweeney turned heads again at her $13 million waterfront mansion, where she was spotted in a tiny burgundy bikini zipping around on a jet ski with boyfriend Scooter Braun.
The pair looked glued to one another, laughing and leaning close as they tore across the water.
Days earlier, they’d been seen cozying up by her pool.
The romance has only intensified since they were first linked at Jeff Bezos’ wedding in June, months after Sweeney ended her engagement to longtime fiancé Jonathan Davino.
But eyebrows shot up once more when she was photographed slipping into a car with Davino after a private dinner at Giorgio Baldi.
A diner told Daily Mail the actress looked ‘in great spirits’ during the meal — moments before quietly climbing into Davino’s passenger seat.