Sydney Sweeney is not impressed with the double standards she’s facing. The Euphoria star recently came under fire online for her partnership with men’s grooming brand Dr. Squatch, which released a limited-edition soap line that included her actual bathwater. Despite the criticism, Sweeney has no regrets.
“It was mainly the girls making comments about it, which I thought was really interesting,” she told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on 20 August. “They all loved the idea of Jacob Elordi’s bathwater.”
She was referring to the viral reaction to her co-star’s film Saltburn. In one infamous scene, Barry Keoghan’s character Oliver drinks up bathwater left behind by Elordi’s Felix after a solo moment in the tub. Fans were so captivated they even created a “Bathwater Candle” inspired by it.
Sweeney’s soap campaign, however, didn’t get the same reception. Still, the 27-year-old said she read the comments and found it important to pay attention. “I think it’s important to have a finger on the pulse of what people are saying,” she explained. “Because everything is a conversation with the audience.”
Back in May, when she first teased the partnership on Instagram, she leaned into the buzz. “You kept asking about my bathwater after the @drsquatch ad…” she wrote. “So we kept it.”
Sweeney later revealed the quirky idea was actually hers. “I think it’s more fun to see everyone else talk about it,” she told E! News in June, adding, “I pitched it.”
But the soap saga isn’t the only controversy she’s had to navigate. In July, she was again in the spotlight for her American Eagle advert, which played on the words “jeans” and “genes.” In the clip, she says, “Genes are passed down from parents to offspring, often determining traits like hair colour, personality and even eye colour. My jeans are blue.”
Some critics accused the campaign of promoting eugenics, but the clothing brand quickly defended itself. “Sydney Sweeney has great jeans is and always was about the jeans,” American Eagle said in a statement on Instagram on 1 August. “Her jeans. Her story. We’ll continue to celebrate how everyone wears their AE jeans with confidence, their way. Great jeans look good on everyone.”
Sweeney has yet to publicly respond to that row, but the company stood firm, insisting there was never any hidden meaning.
For the actress, dealing with an occasional scandal seems to come with the territory. From bathwater soap to cheeky adverts, she doesn’t appear too bothered by the chatter. If anything, she seems to relish stirring conversation, even when the reaction isn’t entirely in her favour.
