Why Sydney Sweeney should be taking notes from Martha Stewart – as American Eagle’s shares soar after ex-con is unveiled as face of the brand

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At a glance it might seem that Sydney Sweeney and Martha Stewart similarities are purely physical. 

Given their stunning looks and experience as models, it’s no surprise American Eagle chose these two women to be the faces of their clothing campaigns.

Despite their very different backgrounds, actress Sydney, 28, and businesswoman Martha, 84, share a similar experience: both have faced very public scandals and lost public favor.

Sydney is currently facing backlash in Hollywood. Fans are upset about her perceived support for Donald Trump, her relationship with Scooter Braun (who is seen as a controversial figure), and reports of conflicts with other celebrities.

Many people were particularly upset by Sydney Sweeney’s summer advertising campaign for American Eagle. Critics argued that the slogan, “Sydney Sweeney Has Great Jeans,” suggested harmful ideas about eugenics and threatened to boycott the brand.

However, when Martha was announced as the new brand representative this week, the clothing company’s stock price increased by four percent in a single day.

There was a period when Martha was completely avoided by brands, a situation she herself had experienced in Hollywood before.

I was absolutely devastated when I found out about the charges in 2003. It was so shocking! This woman, who seemed to have it all – a successful business and a beautiful home life – was accused of fraud, something to do with illegal stock trading. It just felt…wrong. I couldn’t believe someone I admired could be involved in something like that, and it really changed how everyone saw her.

I was shocked when she was convicted, despite her claims of innocence. The jury found her guilty of serious crimes – securities fraud, obstructing justice, and lying under oath. It was a tough outcome, and she ended up serving five months in federal prison, followed by another five months under house arrest. It was a sad fall from grace, honestly.

Oh my gosh, when Martha finally came back, it was EVERYTHING! She just…launched right into her own cooking show, called ‘Martha,’ of course! It was like she never left, and honestly, I was glued to the TV. It was her triumphant return, and I was SO ready for it!

You know, it’s funny how quickly things can rise and fall in the public eye. She started off with a lot of buzz, everyone was talking about her, but that excitement didn’t last. Over time, people just lost interest, and she sadly faded from being a major part of the cultural conversation.

Martha cleverly returned to public attention in 2015 by jokingly referencing her time in prison during the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber.

In her Netflix documentary, Martha, she confessed she’d never seen a roast before taking on the challenge. She remembered her publicist telling her, ‘This is a little outside your comfort zone!’

Despite her nerves, she decided to participate and ended up sitting with a hilarious group of celebrities: Kevin Hart, Shaquille O’Neal, Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Natasha Leggero, Hannibal Buress, Chris D’Elia, Jeff Ross, Pete Davidson, and even Will Ferrell in character as Ron Burgundy from Anchorman.

Martha had the audience roaring with laughter during the roast, delivering lines like, ‘Justin, while 60 million Twitter followers is impressive, in jail, people will only be following you to the shower.’

Throughout the evening, people repeatedly joked about Martha’s time in jail, and she playfully joined in. She quipped that she was there to offer Justin Bieber advice for when he eventually goes to prison, including how to fashion a weapon and how she earned respect inside by standing up to a powerful inmate.

After pause for laughter, she quipped: ‘And Shaq, I hope your mum still doesn’t hold a grudge.’

Let me tell you, the highlight of the night was definitely Martha’s roast! The audience absolutely loved it – she got a standing ovation! And Justin? He was so impressed, he immediately gave her a hug and called her ‘incredible.’ It was a really special moment.

Everyone agreed Martha stole the show at the roast. Her appearance generated a lot of buzz and helped her connect with a new, younger audience.

Martha discovered that addressing the scandal with humor allowed people to eventually forget about it, but Sydney took a different approach.

She recently avoided directly addressing the controversy surrounding the American Eagle ad when asked about it in a recent GQ interview.

The actress from Christy faced further criticism due to her casual reply to the controversy, where she simply said she’d appeared in a jeans advertisement and was surprised by the strong reaction, but that she enjoys wearing jeans.

She explained that her everyday uniform is simply jeans and a T-shirt, and she didn’t seem to mind any criticism about it.

Asked about Donald Trump’s positive comment on the ad, Sydney remained calm and didn’t directly answer. She expressed surprise at the amount of attention it was receiving, and quickly steered the conversation back to her work.

It felt really strange and unreal. I’d experienced that feeling before, but I hadn’t really thought about it that way, or about anything happening at all, really. I just instinctively put my phone down—I was busy filming Euphoria every day.

When asked about accusations that the advertisement promoted the idea of ‘genetic superiority,’ Sydney stated simply, ‘I believe that when I’m ready to discuss something, people will listen.’

Critics pointed out she didn’t take the opportunity to apologize for her previous statements, or even explain that she doesn’t hold racist beliefs.

Sydney is currently focusing on her work, especially promoting her new movie, Christy, which is about boxing.

Despite receiving a 67% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie wasn’t successful at the box office. In fact, Box Office Mojo reported it was among the 12 lowest-grossing films ever released in over 2000 theaters.

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2025-11-26 14:38