The rags-to-riches story of is now Hollywood folklore, a tale of talent, luck and sheer grit.
Showbiz
Sydney Sweeneys Hidden Family Secrets Revealed!
The rags-to-riches story of Sydney Sweeney is now Hollywood folklore, a tale of talent, luck and sheer grit. How, as she tells it, aged 13, she left Washington ...
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How, as she tells it, aged 13, she left for , living in a single room of a Holiday Inn motel with her parents and brother, all in the dedicated pursuit of fame.
Sydney and her mother took the bed while her younger brother and father slept on the pull-out couch.
While she struggled to make it, both her parents went bankrupt and eventually divorced. Sydney blamed herself.
Afterwards, she said, her father moved to live 'off grid' in without a mobile phone or internet access. There were ten years of collective penny-pinching before the blonde bombshell hit the big time.
But the Daily Mail can reveal that only some of this story is true. More fascinatingly, Sydney's account has omitted some of the most extraordinary details of her rise from rock bottom – in particular the toll which America's drug crisis has taken on her wider family.
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The Daily Mail has discovered one of Sydney's uncles on her mother's side was a meth and heroin addict with a drink problem who died, aged just 52, in 2019.
Another uncle, Rob – to whom Sydney remains close – has numerous convictions for fraud, drug and theft offences and has been in and out of prison.
It's undeniable, however, that the steely Sydney was very much the driving force behind her own success, even as a pre-teen.
Sydney Sweeney's account of how she rose to fame has omitted some of the most extraordinary details of her rise from rock bottom – in particular the toll which America's drug crisis has taken on her wider family
Sweeney pictured with her Euphoria cast members Barbie Ferreira and Zendaya
Sydney's uncle, Rob – to whom she remains close – has numerous convictions for fraud, drug and theft offences and has been in and out of prison
Her parents, Steven and Lisa, were the picture of aspiration.
He worked for a medical company; she was a criminal lawyer who became the assistant attorney general for the state before giving up her career to care for her young children.
Outdoorsy, religious and strongly Republican, the Sweeneys see themselves as proud Americans.
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Sydney's maternal grandmother Sherry Haislet posted a picture of the whole clan gathered around the stars and stripes on Facebook in 2017, captioning it: 'I stand for the flag, I kneel for the cross.'
Sydney's brother, Trent, is a senior airman in the American Air Force and currently posted to RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk.
Sydney was born in September 1997 and attended the private St George's School in Washington.
Her ambitions to be an actress developed early and, aged 12, she gave her parents a Powerpoint presentation to convince them to allow her to pursue her dreams.
A year later, in 2010, she was asked to submit an 'inspirational quote' for her school yearbook. 'I'm too epic to fail' she wrote.
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Sydney has spoken previously of the 'really deep, deep streak of addiction' that runs in her family without naming names
Star on the rise: Sweeney, pictured on the set of psychological thriller The Housemaid
Sweeney pictured with her younger brother Trent and his girlfriend Samayre Soto
Ms Peiris agrees it wasn't easy for the family to meet the bills, saying: 'Financially it's difficult to live here and put kids into private school, so Brighton Hall helped them during that period.'
This was when the family lived in the Holiday Inn by Burbank Airport, now the Burbank Hotel.
One longstanding hotel employee remembers Sydney. He told the Daily Mail: 'She was a nice girl, very quiet. No bother. She would say hello and smile.'
The family lived in the motel for around nine months, her parents working around her needs.
But Lisa and Steven split in 2012 when she was 15, and divorced in 2015, the same year that she graduated. Court documents show the split was amicable.
The family house in Spokane, Washington, was transferred to Lisa, complete with a $470,000 (£345,000) mortgage. Sydney said in 2024 she had paid this off to thank her mother for everything she had done.
But while Sydney said in August 2023 her father lives 'off grid' in Mexico, he has a US mobile phone and email address listed by his employers – the Washington Restaurateurs Association.
Steve declared bankruptcy in 2016. Contrary to what Sydney has said, her mother never has.
Sweeney in her younger years with her little brother Trent
