“Truly the tabloids and journalists just created it and kept going,” Sweeney says.

Sydney Sweeney blames the press for Glen Powell dating rumors despite the pair previously claiming to ‘lean into it’

"Truly the tabloids and journalists just created it and kept going," Sweeney says.

By Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre

Mekishana Pierre is a news writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2025. Her work has previously appeared on *Entertainment Tonight* and Popsugar.

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October 27, 2025 2:11 p.m. ET

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Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney at 'Anyone But You' New York premiere. Credit:

Dia Dipasupil/Getty

It's been two years since Sydney Sweeney and her *Anyone But You* costar Glen Powell sent media outlets spinning with their headline-making press run that churned out wild speculations that the pair had an affair while shooting their rom-com — speculation that the star is now claiming was entirely generated by the press themselves.

While reflecting on the gossip fueled by her and Powell's chemistry both on and offscreen with *Variety*, Sweeney refuted the idea that the rom-com's stars leaned into the mystery shrouding their relationship.

Glen Powell and Sydney Sweeney promoting 'Anyone But You' during CinemaCon on April 24, 2023.

Ethan Miller/Getty

"Honestly, the press did it themselves. There was no leaning in, per se," she insisted to the outlet. "Truly the tabloids and journalists just created it and kept going. Even if we were just standing next to each other, it was 'They're standing two inches apart!'"

The *Christy *star chalked the hysteria up to people appreciating how she and Powell "genuinely care for each other and have a love and respect for one another."

She added, "I love being with him. And I think people just truly saw a really beautiful pairing."

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It's an interesting change of tune to what both celebrities claimed when speaking to how the frenzy of speculation was actually intended when conceptualizing the marketing plan.**

Speaking with *the New York Times* back in April 2024, Powell reasoned that "fun and chemistry" are necessary to sell rom-coms, which the duo have in spades. "That's people wanting what's on the screen off the screen, and sometimes you just have to lean into it a bit -- and it worked wonderfully," Powell added, before he gave credit to his costar for leading the charge. "Sydney is very smart."

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Sweeney, who executive produced *Anyone But You* alongside ex-fiancé Jonathan Davino through her Fifty-Fifty Films company, proudly gushed about being intimately involved with the marketing strategy to the point that she "probably [kept] everybody over at Sony marketing and distribution awake at night because I couldn't stop with ideas."

She continued, "I was on every call. I was in text group chats. I wanted to make sure that we were actively having a conversation with the audience as we were promoting this film, because at the end of the day, they're the ones who created the entire narrative."**

The "leaning in" didn't just happen via loving glances on the red carpet or cheeky videos of Powell dipping a giggling Sweeney in his arms; it came in *Saturday Night Live* skits that featured the two as clandestine lovers meeting up behind the back of Sweeney's beau, and an opening monologue in which Sweeney referred to her former longtime partner only for the camera to pan to an unsuspecting Powell.**

The rumors of an affair weren't helped by the breakup of Powell and his ex-girlfriend Gigi Paris, who revealed during a June episode of influencer Emma Klipstein's *Too Much *podcast that the pair's relationship began to fall apart six months before their official split in April 2023 partially over the speculation surrounding Powell and Sweeney's friendship.

Gigi Paris and Glen Powell attending the 80th Annual Golden Globe Awards.

Amy Sussman/Getty

During her podcast appearance, Paris told Klipstein: "I had two options. I could either pretend like I was going along with everything and have everyone wonder, like, 'Are they hooking up? Is she okay with this?' Or stand up for myself and say, 'No, I'm actually not okay with this, and I'm walking away.' So that's what I decided to do ... I was shattered."

She later added, "The bare minimum of any relationship is to have your partner's back. Where are you when you just need to stand up and say, 'No, I would never cheat on my girlfriend. I wouldn't do that.' That's all that needed to be said. And that wasn't said ... Never once."

The model griped that the acting duo later "came out to say it was all a PR scheme," which she said was a priority "at the expense of our relationship."**

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Source: “AOL Movies”