Sydney Sweeney sparks outrage after daring see-through dress steals focus at women’s empowerment event.NN
Sydney Sweeney is facing backlash after lamenting being misjudged — while wearing a dress that left little to the imagination.
The “Euphoria” star reflected on being “underestimated, to have people define you before you’ve had a chance to define yourself” during a speech at Variety’s Power Of Women event in Beverly Hills on Wednesday.
“I know what it feels like to have to prove that you deserve to be here, to be seen, to be taken seriously,” the actress told the audience, while rocking a daring transparent, curve-hugging silver gown by Christian Cowan.
Netizens took to Instagram to critique Sweeney’s choice of fashion at the soirée, where the “White Lotus” actress was an honoree.
“She’s literally at the Power of Women podium talking about being underestimated while wearing a dress that puts her body on display more than her message,” one person wrote.
“How are we supposed to focus on her words when the first thing being presented is her chest?” they added.
“Beautiful dress, wrong occasion for it though,” remarked another, while a third wrote, “That dress doesn’t empower but overpower.”
“Nothing empowering about her showing her body to be objectified which she has complained about,” a fourth person wrote, while a fifth chimed in, “‘People don’t take my acting seriously’ waaaa.”
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A rep for the actress did not immediately return Page Six’s request for comment.
At the event, Sweeney, 28, also spoke out about her starring role as groundbreaking boxer Christy Martin in her upcoming film “Christy.”
“I’m not a fighter in the ring, but I recognize something of myself in [Martin],’ Sweeney said at the event, referencing Martin’s struggles as a gay woman in the overwhelmingly male dominated boxing industry — who was exploited by her trainer husband.
“Every one of us has our own fight, and Christy reminds us all that strength doesn’t look loud sometimes, and sometimes it’s just about getting back up again and again, no matter who’s watching,” she added.
Fellow blonde bombshell Sharon Stone defended Sweeney — who faced backlash after a controversial American Eagle ad over the summer — during a red carpet interview at the women’s empowerment event.
“It’s OK to use what mama gave ya. It’s really fine. You know, it’s hard to be hot, and I think we all know that,” the “Basic Instinct” star, 67, said.
“And it’s really OK to use every bit of hotness you have right here, right now, and go for whatever that is.”
Stone added, “Because everybody has their own certain kind of hotness, their own certain thing, and you’re supposed to go for that because who are you not to be beautiful, you know? Who you are isn’t an accident.”
Sweeney previously caught heat after starring in an American Eagle campaign over the summer that some felt promoted “Nazi propaganda” and eugenics by using playing on the words “jeans” and “genes.”
At the Toronto International Film Festival in September, she refused to discuss the controversy.
“I am there to support my movie and the people involved in making it, and I’m not there to talk about jeans,” she told Vanity Fair at the time.
