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They say all press is good press, and for Sydney Sweeney that appears to be true.

The Handmaid’s Tale actress is no stranger to ad controversy and backlash. One of her biggest controversies came in July 2025, when Sweeney starred in American Eagle’s “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans” campaign. The campaign used a play on the words “genes” and “jeans.”

The ad ignited comments about beauty standards, with critics arguing that its references to Sweeney’s blonde hair and blue eyes evoked eugenic ideas. Many insisted that more diverse models should have been featured in the campaign. American Eagle, however, maintained that the campaign was simply about its jeans.

That controversy intensified when public voter-registration records showed that Sweeney had registered as a Republican in Florida in June 2024. Her political affiliation became another subject of online debate, particularly because the American Eagle campaign had already become entangled in America’s broader cultural and political divisions. Sweeney did not declare her political views publicly.

Also in 2025, Sweeney attracted attention for a collaboration with Dr. Squatch that produced limited-edition soap marketed as containing her bathwater. The unusual product sold out but generated criticism and jokes online. Sweeney later defended the idea and argued that the reaction reflected a double standard compared with similar marketing involving male celebrities.

Then in September 2026, Sweeney faced major backlash again over a Novig sports-prediction advertisement. The campaign features her posing nearly nude with sports equipment. Female athletes, including Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus and sprinter Amy Hunt, criticized the campaign for sexualizing women and undermining the achievements of female athletes.

Sweeney responded by sharing images of female athletes, such as Serena Williams, who had previously posed for ESPN’s Body Issue, appearing to defend the idea of women controlling how their bodies are presented. With everyone talking about her, Sweeney is now the most Googled actor of 2026.

Data compiled by PlayersTime shows that the White Lotus actress has completely obliterated the competition by drawing a mind-blowing 12 million monthly searches on Google. This massive online presence leaves her closest rivals, like her Euphoria co-star Jacob Elordi and Chilean-American actor Pedro Pascal, battling it out for a distant second and third place.

Sweeney now dominates the digital landscape with so many monthly views, leaving the rest of the industry in her wake with an unmatched viral footprint. Elordi came in second with 4.3 million monthly searches. And right behind Elordi in third place is internet favorite Pedro Pascal, pulling in 4 million monthly searches.

According to Stanislava Savisheva, data analyst at PlayersTime, “Sydney Sweeney is becoming a masterclass in how modern fame works: you don’t necessarily have to be the biggest box-office name to become the person everyone is talking about. Her latest provocative sports campaign has triggered backlash, debate, and a fresh wave of online attention, but that is precisely what makes her 12 million monthly Google searches so revealing.

“Sweeney has created a cycle where movies, fashion, advertising, interviews, and even controversy all feed into the same thing — visibility. While Jon Bernthal can bring in nearly $4 billion at the box office, Sweeney can generate an entirely different kind of commercial power by keeping herself at the center of the internet conversation. That ability to stay culturally unavoidable may be one of the most valuable forms of stardom Hollywood has today.”

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