Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Oct 24

Siobhán McSweeney Takes Over Guardian Food Podcast, Succeeding Grace Dent on Comfort Eating

Updated

Updated · The Guardian · Oct 24

Siobhán McSweeney Takes Over Guardian Food Podcast, Succeeding Grace Dent on Comfort Eating

Q: What hidden struggles did the Derry Girls star endure before finally finding freedom in late-life fame and unapologetic snacking?

Before late-life fame brought relief, Siobhán McSweeney endured years of rejection, body shaming and financial insecurity in an acting industry she says treated her body as “unruly.” Agents, casting directors and teachers repeatedly pressured her to lose weight, reflecting the narrow beauty standards and weight stigma that larger-bodied women often face in media. Her career also took a long, uncertain route. McSweeney has said she nearly gave up acting before Derry Girls made her widely known in her 40s. During those lean years, she supported herself through other jobs, including teaching, waitressing, bartending and festival work, while also confronting the scarcity of substantial roles for women. Alongside professional struggle, she carried personal grief. The deaths of both parents shaped her deeply, and she has spoken particularly about her father’s death in 2018 leaving her simultaneously bereaved and unexpectedly freer. That complicated experience later informed her short film Spud, about a daughter caring for a dying father. Her “freedom” now appears to come from several places at once: recognition arriving later in life, more stable and better-paid presenting work, and a deliberate rejection of shame around food and body size. By openly eating Tayto crisps, Dairy Milk and Guinness on air, McSweeney says she is pushing back against expectations that women should make themselves smaller, quieter or more acceptable.

3 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Oct 24

Siobhán McSweeney has been named the new host of The Guardian’s Comfort Eating podcast, taking over from Grace Dent after appearing as a guest on the show in 2021.
McSweeney said she accepted the role partly because openly enjoying food as a woman who is “not stick-thin” feels provocative in an industry that has long pressured her to lose weight.
The Derry Girls Bafta winner said she is leaning further into presenting work — including The Traitors Ireland and The Great Pottery Throw Down — because substantial TV roles for women remain scarce and presenting pays better.
Her comments also highlighted wider frustrations with the business, from being passed over for “prettier, younger, less funny” women to receiving only about £40 in residuals after Derry Girls later logged 17.3 million viewing hours on Netflix.