Hollywood actress Sydney Sweeney is opening up about a personal struggle that resonates with many women.
The actress shared that women, including herself, often find it difficult to ask for help due to fear of being perceived as “weak.”
As the 28-year-old portrays former boxer Christy Martin in David Michod’s biopic, she connects with Christy’s desire to appear self-sufficient and not show signs of vulnerability.
Speaking to Sky News, Sydney said, “I have a really hard time with asking for help, and my friends recently have really pointed that out to me, and they’re like, ‘Sydney, it’s okay to ask. Like, you can.’ There’s nothing wrong with it, but I have a really hard time with it.”
She elaborated, “I think it’s hard, especially as a woman, there are so many expectations on us to have it all together. If we do ask for help, then it’s a sign of weakness. We don’t want to be viewed that way, even though if a man asks for help, no one thinks, ‘ah, he’s weak.’ But if a woman director asks for help, it’s like, ‘oh, she’s not prepared for this role.’”
According to reports, the 57-year-old Christy Martin, a former boxer and domestic abuse survivor, recently praised Sydney’s performance in ‘Christy,’ noting her “competitive spirit” essential for bringing Martin’s story to life on screen.
Christy remarked to Flickering Myth, “She did a great job. What’s interesting that maybe a lot of people don’t know is that she actually has an MMA background from when she was a teenager. So she already has that competitive spirit. The boxing, she enjoyed. I actually feel like she had fun with this role because it’s so out of character for her that it was challenging, but yet fun for her to be something that wasn’t the norm.”
Christy Martin is known as a trailblazer in the boxing world but also endured an attempted murder by her abusive husband, Jim Martin. She aims for the biopic to encompass all aspects of her complex story.