Sydney Sweeney on the challenges women face to ‘have it all together’

Sydney Sweeney says she finds it challenging to accept help when it’s offered to her, saying it’s viewed as a “sign of weakness”.

Speaking to Sky News about her new film Christy, which is based on the life of boxer Christy Martin, the US actress says it was a common feeling between her and the character she portrays.

“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 really a hard time with it.”

She adds: “I think it’s hard, especially as a woman, there’s so many expectations on us to have it all together.

“And if we do ask for help, then it’s a sign of weakness. And we don’t want to be viewed that way, even though, [a man] can ask for it, and no one’s like, ‘ah, he’s weak’. But if a woman director asks for help, it’d be like, ‘oh, she’s not prepared for this role’.”

The film’s director, David Michod, who also co-wrote the biopic with his wife Mirrah Foulkes, agrees and said it’s a feeling his wife has also had in the industry.

“Mirrah had that experience a lot. It’s just like women have to, as soon as they reveal that they don’t know something, it becomes like, ‘oh, she’s unprepared, she doesn’t know what she’s doing, she’s out of her depth’. And I feel like I tell people I don’t know what I’m doing 20 times a day.”

Together they created the new film, Christy.

Based on Christy’s boxing career, the project also depicts her struggles as a closeted gay woman and the domestic violence and coercive control she faced in her personal life by her husband and head coach James ‘Jim’ Martin.

Christy became the first woman signed by renowned boxing promoter Don King in October 1993.

Nicknamed “The Coal Miner’s Daughter”, her success in the boxing ring earned her the WBC female super welterweight title in 2009 and later a place in the International Boxing Hall of Fame.

Christy and Jim first met in the late 1980s. She was 22 and he was 47. They married a year later.

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It was in November 2010 that the world came to know of the private battles she faced when she was stabbed and shot by her then husband in the bedroom of their home.

Left to die, Jim went for a shower, giving Christy a chance to escape and flag down a passing car.

In 2012, Jim was found guilty of attempted second-degree murder and was sentenced to 25 years in prison. On 26th November 2024, he died in custody.

Michod says Christy’s life story is incredible, inspiring, and meeting her for the first time, just three weeks before filming began, was a wonderful experience.

“I’d had a lot of conversations with her… I went to New Orleans to meet her. She is a fight promoter now.

“I was taken first by how sweet she is, you know, given that she was a fighter and went through some pretty dark stuff. She’s beautifully sweet. I was also reminded of how in that world, that boxing world, she’s a rock star.”

Already released in the US, the film opened to just $1.3m at the US box office – the 9th worst opening for a film shown in over 2,000 North American theatres.

Defending the project, Sweeney previously stated: “We don’t always just make art for numbers, we make it for impact.”

Christy is out in UK and Irish cinemas from 28 November.

Anyone feeling emotionally distressed or suicidal can call Samaritans for help on 116 123 or email jo@samaritans.org in the UK. In the US, call the Samaritans branch in your area or 1 (800) 273-TALK