Actor Sydney Sweeney has finally shared her perspective after a year of controversy surrounding her alleged political views, which has led some to label her as Hollywood’s ‘MAGA Barbie’.
Since her American Eagle advertisement, which took off with the tagline ‘Sydney Sweeney has great jeans’, Sweeney has remained silent about her personal beliefs. The slogan drew criticism from parts of the internet, with some accusing it of suggesting themes related to eugenics.
The advertisement became a point of political contention, prompting President Trump to claim Sweeney for the right, labeling her a ‘registered Republican’ and praising her ad as the ‘HOTTEST out there’. Sweeney did not initially respond to these remarks.
In a detailed interview and photoshoot for Cosmopolitan, the Christy star addressed the situation. She also introduced her new lingerie line, SYRN, shortly after grabbing attention by displaying its bras on the Hollywood sign.
Finally addressing the controversy, Sweeney told the magazine: “Those aren’t my values, but I feel like I’ve never needed to correct people who don’t know who I am.”
Amidst glossy images of her lace-heavy lingerie collection, she denied being ‘hateful’ and described how her celebrity image was exploited for others’ political or financial agendas.
“People project some of that onto me,” Sweeney explained to Cosmo. “But that was scratching the surface of what I’m dealing with now, with people creating their own narratives that serve their purposes, their headlines, their clickbait.”
The Housemaid actor expressed her discomfort with others defining her beliefs, stating that the MAGA Barbie label is simply ‘not me’ and that the continuous comments about her supposed ideology have become ‘not healthy’ for her to engage with.
As for why it took until the January 2026 launch of SYRN to address the claims of being a MAGA supporter, Sweeney told Cosmo that she simply does not engage in politics, aiming to avoid further controversy.
She said: “I’ve never been here to talk about politics. I’ve always been here to make art, so this is just not a conversation I want to be at the forefront of.
“And I think because of that, people want to take it even further and use me as their own pawn. But it’s somebody else assigning something to me, and I can’t control that.”
Sweeney noted that the contentious nature of political dialogue is something she is not familiar with.
She said: “I haven’t figured it out. I’m not a hateful person. If I say, ‘That’s not true,’ they’ll come at me like, ‘You’re just saying that to look better.'”
It appears unlikely that this will change in the future, with Sweeney adding: “There’s no winning. There’s never any winning. I just have to continue being who I am, because I know who I am. I can’t make everyone love me. I know what I stand for.”