How did Sydney Sweeney become the most divisive star in Hollywood?

The actress is at the heart of a political tug of war and her breasts are polarising US society. What’s really going on, asks Maddy Mussen

- Maddy Mussen

A MERICA'S bittersweet heart Sydney Sweeney found herself under fire once again this week when an award-winning Holly wood producer used a public talk with the New York Times to hit out at her looks and acting skills. Carol Baum, the 81-year-old producer of Father of the Bride and Dead Ringers, said to the audience after a screening of one of her movies: "There's an actress who everybody loves now - Sydney Sweeney...

Explain this girl to me. She's not pretty, she can't act." Representatives for Sweeney, 26, have hit back at Baum for attacking her out of nowhere, calling the producer's behaviour "shameful.

This is just the latest in a series of unprovoked swipes which Sweeney has faced since she achieved mega-stardom.

In the past two years, she has become ubiquitous. Her breakout performances in HBO juggernauts Euphoria and The White Lotus catapulted her to fame, earning her Emmy nominations. She's gone on to star in a slew of blockbusters, including superhero flick Madame Web and romcom Anyone But You, which became America's top-grossing R-rated comedy since 2015.

But despite looking like the "ideal" All American Girl and rarely talking on topics that come within a whisker of controversy, Sweeney's image has become incredibly polarised.

Her inane appearance on Saturday Night Live last month, for instance, sparked debate purely because Sweeney possesses a pair of breasts.

And she was even bold enough to acknowledge the possession of said breasts, playing up to her stereotype in a Hooters-themed skit and joking that they're her "backup" career.

In the National Post, Right-wing commentator Amy Hamm posited that Sweeney's boobs could be "double-D harbingers of the death of woke".