The internet is incapable of being normal about Sydney Sweeney. When she hosted SNL last year, conservative media figures crowed that her décolletage signaled “the death of woke.” After a photograph of her sunbathing on a boat went viral, commenters chimed in with bizarre and lewd remarks about her body. As a hypervisible public figure, Sweeney has said that she has come to terms with being unable to control her image and comments about her appearance, particularly among her predominantly male fanbase. But Sweeney hasn’t eschewed the internet completely. Instead, she’s trying a different tack: Being in on the joke, perhaps in a way that comes with a paycheck.
Last fall, when Sweeney dropped a saucy ad for the male personal care brand Dr. Squatch that featured her soaking in a bathtub while calling viewers “dirty little boys,” horny fans took notice—and, specifically, began clamoring for a taste of her bathwater. Sweeney tells GQ that she “definitely was not aware” of the erotic implications around bathtub water “until I started seeing it in my own comments.” But she obliged. Sweeney is now selling bar soap for Dr. Squatch—the same brand that once featured Nick Cannon poking fun at himself siring 12 children in an ad for ball-care products—made from pine bark extract, sand, and, naturally, actual droplets of her dirty bathwater. In a nod to her Pacific Northwest roots, it’s also meant to evoke the smell of Douglas fir trees and moss. We’re sure the internet will be totally chill about this one too.
Sweeney spoke briefly with GQ about the product, growing up in the Pacific Northwest, and why she thinks dirty bathwater may be in the zeitgeist. This interview has been condensed for clarity and length.
GQ: Were you surprised by this very particular request for bath water, or did you have a feeling this might happen?
Sydney Sweeney: I honestly think it’s a really fun, full-circle moment, because fans always joke about wanting my bath water…I was like, This is just such a cool way to have a conversation with the audience and give them what they want. But then also hopefully encourage them to take care of themselves in a healthy way.
I did. Honestly, it probably has been a huge catalyst for it.
I have a really amazing group of friends and family that are not really in the industry, and they just keep me very grounded and humbled. And whenever I’m not doing press or working on set or anything, I go back and my life’s normal. So I think that it’s finding a really healthy balance, and then also just kind of taking it day by day. I think because I grew up in the Pacific Northwest, I love being outside. My go-to isn’t oh, I want to go sit on the couch and watch TV and scroll my phone. It’s: I want to go outside. I want to go jet-skiing. I want to go build a treehouse. I want to go hiking. I want to go on an adventure. Having that ingrained in me has really helped.
You might be one of the only people in history to start and then actually finish building a treehouse.
[Laughs] This is a funny story. My parents were really, really cool, because they always wanted me to be very independent and hands-on. And so they’d give me the tools, but then I’d have to do it. And so I built a treehouse. I mean, it wasn’t even something crazy. It was just a platform with some railings and a ladder, but I had a rope that would dolly all my tools up, and I felt really cool as a fourth grader doing this.
I finished building it, and then I painted it. I don’t even remember what I painted, but I was very, very proud of it. I remember walking in and just telling my parents all about it, and showed them the paint from my art room that was…washable paint. And I remember walking up the next day and the entire tree and the ground underneath was just covered with all the paint. And my beautiful mural had just completely washed off. I was so sad.
I make sure that every brand that I become a part of, I organically and authentically use. It’s super important to me to make sure that whenever I’m saying, hey guys, I really, really love this product, or, hey, I really use this that, I actually am. I’m a consumer just like everybody else. If it doesn’t actually work for the person and they’re just saying it, it doesn’t benefit any of us.
So would you actually use this soap bar yourself?
I do have the bar. I actually took a shower this morning, and I have the bar and I used it.
What’s the skin feel of this bar of soap?
It’s super soft. It’s really pretty, I’m looking at it right now. It’s marbly and has blues and a little bit of brown in it.
When we were at the [Dr. Squatch] shoot, they had a tub for me. And I actually got in there and I took some soap, and we had a nice little bath and they took the water. So it’s my real bath water. I wanted to have it lean towards my home roots, so there’s this really outdoorsy scent of, like, pine and earthy moss and fir. So it smells super manly. But then there’s some city bath water mixed in.
No, but I would like to say yes, because that’s the coolest thing ever (laughs).
Why do you think a woman’s bathwater has such a powerful and erotic draw for people?
Um, because women are awesome?
Do you see the concept of selling your bathwater as wresting back power for yourself in terms of your image?
Yeah, of course. It’s funny, and there’s a lot of different plays that are in motion at that time. My hope is that it just gets guys to think about taking care of themselves and cleaning themselves with some healthy products.
I mean, I have been in some pretty disgusting dude bathrooms before.
Exactly.
