Real Christy Martin Backs Sydney Sweeney as Biopic Backlash Builds

Facing a wave of online blowback over biopic Christy, Sydney Sweeney just got backup from the real Christy Martin, who stepped into the fray to address the controversy, clarify her stance, and back Sweeney’s involvement.

So, here is the deal with 'Christy': the movie had a rough opening, online chatter got loud, and Sydney Sweeney found herself in the crosshairs. Then the real Christy Martin — the boxer the film is about — stepped in and said her piece. If you felt like you were watching three different conversations at once, you were. Let’s untangle it.

Christy Martin backs Sydney Sweeney, loudly

After a wave of posts knocked Sweeney’s performance and even her involvement in the project, Christy Martin posted a very clear defense on Instagram. She did not hedge.

'I’ve always been a fighter. My life reflected that in every way and now I fight for others. The past few days I have seen some people attack my friend Sydney Sweeney. She worked her ass off for this film and worked her ass off for me. She is my friend and ally.'

That lines up with what Martin said earlier at the Toronto International Film Festival, when an audience asked about Sweeney’s performance and she answered: 'I think it’s awesome.'

Where the heat started

The latest round of criticism spiked after a bad box office weekend and a blunt post from Ruby Rose. Rose went in hard on Threads, saying Sweeney 'ruined the film,' calling her 'a cretin,' and adding 'Christy deserved better.' Rose also claimed she was once attached to an earlier version of the project, writing that the original 'Christy Martin' script was 'incredible' and 'life changing,' and that she had been set to play a character named Cherry. She framed that earlier team as people steeped in the material, adding: 'Most of us were actually gay. It’s part of why I stayed in acting.'

Rose didn’t stop at the movie. She also took a swipe at Sweeney’s perceived politics: 'None of the people want to see someone who hates them, parading around pretending to be us.' That pulled in old internet drama about Sweeney’s family party photos from 2022 and a separate dust-up around an American Eagle ad that got praise from Donald Trump.

For clarity, Sweeney already addressed both topics last year. She told Variety there were 'misinterpretations' around the family party photos, and told GQ that the chatter about the American Eagle stock response was 'all made up.'

The movie’s numbers (and they are rough)

While all of that was happening online, 'Christy' stumbled out of the gate:

• Opening weekend was about $1.3 million across roughly 2,184 theaters.
• That is around a $600 per-screen average, which is among the worst for a wide release.
• The film currently sits at 65% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Sweeney’s response

Sweeney kept her reply focused on the movie’s purpose rather than the noise. On Instagram, she wrote:

'If Christy gave even one woman the courage to take her first step toward safety, then we will have succeeded. Christy has been the most impactful project of my life.'

What to make of all this

There’s a lot of crossfire for a movie that barely got out of the starting blocks. Rose says she was attached to an earlier, very different version and thinks the final film blew it; Martin, whose life the film is about, is firmly in Sweeney’s corner; and Sweeney is trying to steer the conversation back to the subject matter.

The behind-the-scenes wrinkle — that someone else claims they were set for a key role in an earlier script, while the real Christy Martin is publicly defending the star who actually made the movie — is unusual and explains why this got so loud so fast. The box office faceplant did not help.

Bottom line: the discourse is messier than the movie’s RT score suggests, but the person whose story is being told is saying, plainly, that Sydney Sweeney did the work and did right by her. That counts for a lot.