Sydney Sweeney is finally addressing — pun intended — the controversy surrounding her viral American Eagle good jeans ad from earlier this year, noting that the response was both “surreal” and a “surprise.”
“I did a jean ad. I mean, the reaction definitely was a surprise, but I love jeans. All I wear are jeans. I’m literally in jeans and a T-shirt every day of my life,” she told GQ for their Men of the Year issue out Tuesday.
“I’ll vent to my girlfriends. But other than that, no,” Sweeney added of the prior temptation to speak out publicly. “I know who I am. I know what I value. I know that I’m a kind person. I know that I love a lot, and I know that I’m just excited to see what happens next. And so I don’t really let other people define who I am … I think that when I have an issue that I want to speak about, people will hear.”
After admitting that it was “surreal” to see President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance defend her over the ad’s controversial wordplay, the actress said she was too busy filming “Euphoria” Season 3 to really grasp how viral the campaign became at the time.
“I wasn’t thinking of it like that, of any of it. I kind of just put my phone away. I was filming every day. I’m filming ‘Euphoria,’ so I’m working 16-hour days and I don’t really bring my phone on set, so I work and then I go home and I go to sleep. So I didn’t really see a lot of it,” Sweeney shared. “I think that if somebody is closed off because of something they read online to a powerful story like ‘Christy,’ then I hope that something else can open their eyes to being open to art and being open to learning, and I’m not going to be affected by that.”
The star also touched upon the clothing brand’s business, specifically reports of AE’s stock price going up 38% following the ad campaign: “I was aware of the numbers as it was going. So when I saw all the headlines of in-store visits were down a certain percentage, none of it was true. It was all made up, but nobody could say anything because [the company was] in their quiet period. So it was all just a lot of talk. And because I knew at the end of the day what that ad was for, and it was great jeans, it didn’t affect me one way or the other.”
Regardless, the A-Lister is determined to keep her peace — whether that means avoiding discussing commercial scandals or co-star romance rumors (as was the case with Glen Powell and “Anyone But You”).
“The professional benefits for me of being private is for my own health and sanity. I think that if I let everybody in all the time, I have nothing for myself,” she said. “I’m just a 28-year-old woman who’s trying to figure it out, and I’m still learning and I’m going to make mistakes and I’m going to grow. And I think that it’s important to be able to do that without having to say every single thing all the time.”
Sweeney’s new film “Christy” hits theaters this Friday.
