appConfigEntityId

bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

isVideo

articlePageQuery

article

articleSchemaContent

content

hooksArticlePageAdvertisementConfigArticle

hooksArticlePageFloatingButtonConfigArticle

appConfig

filter

json

liveArticle

Business Insider

Although the gender pay gap in the US – and notably, around the world – persists, women are becoming more vocal in standing up against discrimination. In the case of Hollywood, female celebrities are also speaking out on wage differences – here are 10 A-listers that have fought for equal pay.
1. Jessica Chastain told Variety she “drew a line in the sand” when she turned down a role with a wage gap in 2017

Chastain described a phenomenon where film studios would use whatever money was left over from her salary to add to a male actor’s pay, and said that she turned down “something huge” where she would not have been compensated equally.
“I remember afterwards I was like, ‘What did I do? Maybe it was a mistake.’ But it wasn’t, because everyone in the studio system heard what I did,” she said in the 2017 interview. “So what you’re doing is creating a reputation: don’t bring Jessica something where she’s not being fairly compensated compared to the male actor.”
2. Chastain also helped Octavia Spencer negotiate for higher pay

When Spencer told Chastain how much she was making for her film roles, she says Chastain “was quiet, and she said she had no idea that that’s what it was like for women of colour”. Chastain then negotiated higher pay for both herself and Spencer for the film they were working on together.
The luxury lives of Kourtney Kardashian’s children
“I love that woman, because she’s walking the walk and she’s actually talking the talk,” Spencer said at a Sundance Film Festival panel called “Women Breaking Barriers” in 2018. “She said, ‘Octavia, we’re gonna get you paid on this film. You and I are gonna be tied together. We’re gonna be favoured nations, and we’re gonna make the same thing.’ Fast forward to last week, we’re making five times what we asked for.”
3. Michelle Williams said she felt “paralysed” after learning that her co-star Mark Wahlberg had been paid significantly more

When Michelle Williams learned that her co-star Mark Wahlberg was being paid US$1.5 million for reshoots while she’d been paid less than US$1,000, she felt “paralysed”. After the story broke, Wahlberg ended up donating his US$1.5 million from All the Money in the World reshoots to Time’s Up in Williams’ honour, NBC News reported.
Williams took the fight for equal pay to Capitol Hill, where she spoke at an event marking Equal Pay Day and celebrating the passage of the pay cheque Fairness Act in 2019.

“In late 2017, the news broke that I’d been paid less than US$1,000 compared to the US$1.5 million that my male counterpart had received for the exact same amount of work,” she said in a speech. “And guess what, no one cared. This came as no surprise to me, it simply reinforced my life-learned belief that equality is not an inalienable right and that women would always be working just as hard for less money while shouldering more responsibility at home.”
Williams credited Chastain for amplifying the pay disparity, saying, “she wasn’t afraid to pick up a megaphone” and be heard.
How rich is Lady Gaga really? Inside her gigantic net worth
She continued, “On the job I just completed two weeks ago, I have to tell you, I was paid equally with my male co-star.”
4. Patricia Arquette told The Daily Beast that she’s still offered less for her work than men

Even after Patricia Arquette’s viral Oscars acceptance speech, in which she called out the US’ gender pay gap, she told The Daily Beast that she’s still offered less for her work than men.
Arquette’s 2015 Oscars acceptance speech galvanised women everywhere to demand equal pay.
“To every woman who gave birth, to every taxpayer and citizen of this nation, we have fought for everybody else’s equal rights, it’s our time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America,” she said to thunderous applause.


She took her activism to Capitol Hill as well. In 2016, Arquette marked Equal Pay Day with US representative Carolyn Maloney (D-NY) by highlighting the results of a congressional report that found women make US$10,800 less per year than men. She also testified in front of the House Judiciary Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties Subcommittee about the Equal Rights Amendment in 2019.
Still, Arquette finds herself fighting for equal pay in her acting work, telling The Daily Beast in 2018 that she’s “walked away from several jobs” because she was offered different deals from her male co-stars.
5. Charlize Theron negotiated a reported US$10 million pay cheque for The Huntsman, the same as her co-star Chris Hemsworth

After hacked Sony emails revealed pay disparities in Hollywood in 2014, Theron fought for equal pay for her work in the sequel to Snow White and the Huntsman.
“I have to give them credit because once I asked, they said yes,” she told Elle UK. “They did not fight it. And maybe that’s the message: that we just need to put our foot down. This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing. It doesn’t mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you’re doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way.”
6. Robin Wright asked to be paid the same as co-star Kevin Spacey on Netflix’s House of Cards

Wright was reportedly earning US$420,000 per episode of House of Cards to Spacey’s US$500,000 before she asked for equal pay. She told executives, “You better pay me or I’m going to go public.”
5 times Will Smith lost his cool and got in trouble
“It was a perfect paradigm,” she told audiences at a 2016 event at the Rockefeller Foundation. “There are very few films or TV shows where the male, the patriarch, and the matriarch are equal. And they are in House of Cards.”
7. Jennifer Lawrence wrote about her experience with Hollywood’s gender pay gap

The Hunger Games star wrote a 2015 essay entitled “Why Do I Make Less Than My Co-Stars?” in Lena Dunham’s Lenny newsletter. When Sony Pictures was hacked in 2014, emails showed that Lawrence and her American Hustle co-star Amy Adams had made less than their male co-stars Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale and Bradley Cooper.
“I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled,’” Lawrence wrote. “At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the internet and realised every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled’.”
Now she fights for equal pay. “I feel I know my worth, and I feel like I work to keep it that way,” she told 60 Minutes in 2018.
8. It took three seasons of The X-Files before Gillian Anderson was paid the same as co-star David Duchovny

When The X-Files originally aired from 1993, the studio made Anderson stand behind Duchovny on camera so that they wouldn’t appear side-by-side, she told The Daily Beast. Anderson also told The Hollywood Reporter that when The X-Files was revived in 2016, she was initially offered half of Duchovny’s pay.
Who were the best and worst dressed stars of the Oscars 2022?
“I’m surprised that more [interviewers] haven’t brought that up because it’s the truth,” Anderson told The Daily Beast. “Especially in this climate of women talking about the reality of [unequal pay] in this business, I think it’s important that it gets heard and voiced. It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly. I worked really hard toward that and finally got somewhere with it.”

“Even in interviews in the last few years, people have said to me, ‘I can’t believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane.’ And my response always was, ‘That was then, this is now.’ And then it happened again! I don’t even know what to say about it.”
Her fight paid off in the end. She eventually took home the same amount as Duchovny for the new episodes of the show, sources told the Daily Beast in 2017.
9. Chadwick Boseman donated part of his salary to ensure that 21 Bridges co-star Sienna Miller would be paid fairly

Miller revealed Boseman’s act after his death in an issue of Empire magazine dedicated to his memory.
“This was a pretty big budget film, and I know that everybody understands the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to,” Miller said. “And because I was hesitant to go back to work and my daughter was starting school and it was an inconvenient time, I said, ‘I’ll do it if I’m compensated in the right way.’ Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number that I had asked for. He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”
Miller had previously turned down a role on Broadway when she was offered less than half of what her male co-star would have made.
10. Claire Foy played Queen Elizabeth in The Crown, but was paid less than her co-star Matt Smith

She called the revelation “embarrassing” and was eventually paid more. Producers of The Crown revealed on a 2018 panel that Claire Foy made less than Matt Smith due to Smith’s fame from Doctor Who, reports Variety. Foy made about US$40,000 per episode out of the US$7 million-per-episode budget.
Who were the best and worst dressed stars of the Oscars 2022?
“I certainly won’t be naive about those things,” Foy said at CinemaCon in 2018. “It’s really opened my eyes about what I am allowed to have an opinion about, and what I’m allowed to stand up for myself about. And I think that’s really changed my approach to myself and other women in this industry. It’s been only a positive thing – even though, embarrassing.”

Left Bank Pictures, which was responsible for budgeting and salaries for The Crown, issued an apology, and after the fallout, Foy reportedly received more than US$275,000 in back pay.
In a statement, Left Bank said, “We are absolutely united with the fight for fair pay, free of gender bias and for a rebalancing of the industry’s treatment of women in front of the camera and behind the scenes.”
This article originally appeared on Insider.
Want more stories like this? Follow STYLE on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.


Meet Mariska Hargitay’s 3 children, who joined her at the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards

Meet Brooks Nader’s parents Holland and Breaux – as the Baywatch star defends going topless around them in Italy

Student Academy Awards 2026: Oscars body champions emerging film talent at TIFF

How Jet Li’s trainer Wu Bin, 89, ages well and still nurtures martial arts talent

Hollywood

10 celebrities who fought for equal pay for women, from Jessica Chastain’s support for her co-stars and Patricia Arquette’s Oscars speech, to Michelle Williams’ Capitol Hill appearance

These celebrities fought for equal pay, not only for themselves but also for others. Photos: Reuters, AFP, @ patriciaarquette/Instagram, EPA-EFE

Jessica Chastain attends the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland on March 27, in Hollywood, California. Photo: Getty

Actresses Jessica Chastain and Octavia Spencer arrive for the 75th Golden Globe Awards in January 2018, in Beverly Hills, California. Photo: AFP

Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Williams and Ridley Scott attend the premiere of Sony Pictures Entertainment’s All The Money In The World at Samuel Goldwyn Theater, in December 2017, in Beverly Hills, California. Photo: Getty

 Michelle Williams plays Gail Harris, the mother of a 16-year-old kidnapped boy in All the Money in the World. Photo: Intercontinental Film Distributors (H.K.) Limited

Patricia Arquette’s Oscars speech on the US’ gender pay gap went viral in 2015. Photo: BFA.com

Charlize Theron in a scene from Snow White and the Huntsman. Photo: AP

Robin Wright in House of Cards season six. Photo: Netflix

Actress Jennifer Lawrence wrote an essay called “Why Do I Make Less Than My Co-Stars?” Photo: AP

Gillian Anderson and David Duchovny in an episode of the Fox series, The X-Files. Photo: Fox

Gillian Anderson reportedly made less than David Duchovny at the start. Photo: Sinopix

Chadwick Boseman stars in 21 Bridges. Photo: STXfilms

Matt Smith and Claire Foy in The Crown. Photo: @whatonnetflix/ Twitter

Claire Foy as the young Queen Elizabeth in The Crown. Photo: Netflix

The best jewellery at the Oscars 2022, from Jessica Chastain’s Gucci jewels and Nicole Kidman’s Harry Winston diamonds, to Zendaya in Bulgari and Timothée Chalamet in Cartier

Which A-listers dazzled the most with their jewellery at the 2022 Academy Awards? Photos: Reuters, AFP 

Jessica Chastain wears a custom Gucci gown with matching Gucci high jewellery to attend the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland, on March 27 in Hollywood, California. Photo: AFP

Olivia Colman dresses effortlessly elegant in Dior Couture matched with Chopard high jewellery, posing on the red carpet during the Oscars arrivals at the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 27. Photo: Reuters

US actress Kristen Stewart was nominated for her role as late Princess Diana in Spencer, and wears a Chanel suit with Chanel jewellery as she attends the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 27. Photo: AFP

Zendaya wears Valentino Couture with Bulgari’s high jewellery collection, attending the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland, on March 27, in Hollywood, California. Photo: Wire

Timothée Chalamet went shirtless under a Louis Vuitton tuxedo jacket with Cartier jewellery on the red carpet during the Oscars arrivals at the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, on March 27. Photo: Reuters

Best actress nominee Nicole Kidman poses in a classy Armani Privé gown with jewellery from Harry Winston on the red carpet during the Oscars arrivals at the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, Los Angeles, on March 27. Photo: Reuters

Actress Ariana DeBose poses with her Oscar for best supporting actress for West Side Story in the press room at the 94th Annual Academy Awards at Hollywood and Highland, on March 27, in Hollywood, California. Photo: Getty Images 

Uma Thurman went simple and wore a Bottega Veneta ensemble with Cartier diamond earrings at the 94th Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, on March 27. Photo: AFP

Zoë Kravitz is feminine and chic in Saint Laurent with jewellery from Kwiat as she arrives at the Oscars on March 27, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. Photo: AP

Where is Anthony Strangis of Netflix’s Bad Vegan now? The ex-husband of Sarma Melngailis, aka himself Shane Fox, has a con artist past but might be turning over a new leaf

Learn more about the con-artist Anthony Strangis. Photos: Courtesy of Netflix, @Heretowherenow/Twitter

Mugshots of formerly married couple Anthony Strangis and Sarma Melngailis. Photo: Netflix

Anthony Strangis has a criminal past and a history of lying under aliases. Photo: @zacharybell/Twitter

Anthony Strangis went under the fake name of Shane Fox when he met his to-be wife Sarma Melngailis. Photo: @TomSullBolton1/Twitter

Formerly married, Anthony Strangis and Sarma Melngailis are no longer in touch. Photo: @ValidNewsToday/Twitter

Anthony Strangis and Sarma Melngailis scammed their investors and workers. Photo: @anthonystrangisofficial/Instagram

9 Oscar-nominated child stars and where they are now: Hailee Steinfeld was 14 in True Grit, True Blood’s Anna Paquin bagged an award at age 11, and Abigail Breslin went on to do Dirty Dancing

Sixth Sense’s Haley Joel Osment and Little Miss Sunshine’s Abigail Breslin wowed audiences as kids, so what are they up to now? Photos: AFP, EPA-EFE, AP

Jodie Foster got her big break – and an Oscar nomination – for playing Iris in Taxi Driver back in 1976. Photo: Columbia Pictures via IMDb

Jodie Foster receiving the Palme d’Or Lifetime Achievement Award last year. Photo: EPA-EFE

Justin Henry as Billy in 1979’s Kramer vs. Kramer, in which Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman played his divorced parents. Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

While still on the Hollywood circuit, Justin Henry now only takes on roles sporadically. Photo: Getty Images for HFA

Anna Paquin played Flora McGrath in art house film The Piano back in 1993 and has since had a successful TV career. Photo: Miramax/Bac Films

Anna Paquin at the premiere of the final season of True Blood in 2014. Photo: Reuters

Cole Sear, at 10 years old, famously saw dead people in psychological thriller The Sixth Sense. Photo: Hollywood Pictures/Reuters

Haley Joel Osment earlier this year at the 2022 Screen Actors Guild Awards. Photo: Reuters

Keisha Castle-Hughes as New Zealand girl Paikea in a scene from Whale Rider. Photo: Newmarket Films/AP

Keisha Castle-Hughes as Obara Sand in HBO’s gritty Game of Thrones. Photo: HBO

Abigail Breslin brought much joy to audiences with her portrayal of Olive Hoover in Little Miss Sunshine. Photo: Searchlight Pictures/Big Beach

Abigail Breslin went from sweet Little Miss Sunshine to fighting zombies in Zombieland: Double Tap. Photo: CTMG

Saoirse Ronan played Keira Knightley’s younger sister in Atonement in 2007 – and got herself an Oscar nom in the process. Photo: Universal Pictures/Focus Features/StudioCanal

Saoirse Ronan has been nominated for several other awards since her 2008 nomination for Atonement. Photo: Reuters

Hailee Steinfeld was just barely a teenager when she starred in True Grit in 2010. Photo: Paramount Pictures

Hailee Steinfeld plays Kate Bishop alongside Jeremy Renner’s Clint Barton/Hawkeye in Marvel Studios’ Hawkeye. Photo: Marvel Studios

Quvenzhané Wallis still holds the record for youngest best actress nominee ever for her role as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild. Photo: Fox Searchlight/MCT

Quvenzhané Wallis with the her co-stars in Annie: Bobby Cannavale, Cameron Diaz and Jamie Foxx. Photo: AP

Inside Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson’s relationship: the Skims billionaire and ex-wife of Kanye West made it Instagram official – and gloated about her SNL beau in a recent Ellen interview

The rumours are true: Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson are dating! Photos: @kimkardashian/Instagram, Getty Images

Kim Kardashian’s Instagram post on March 12 confirmed the rumours about her dating Pete Davidson. Photo: @kimkardashian/Instagram

The unlikely pair of Kim Kardashian and Pete Davidson broke the internet with their first official couple photo. Photo: @kimkardashian/Instagram

Pete Davidson and Ariana Grande were once engaged. Photo: @arianagrande/Instagram

Davidson played Aladdin and Kardashian played Jasmine on an SNL episode. Photo: SNL

Kim Kardashian and Kanye West recently divorced after six years of marriage. Photo: @kimkardashian/Instagram

Julia Fox and Kanye West with Madonna. Photo: @madonna/Instagram

Kourtney, Kim and Khloe Kardashian with Kendall and Kylie Jenner. Photo: @kimkardashian/Instagram

Kim Kardashian and her daughters Chicago and North, and sons Psalm and Saint. Photo: @kimkardashian/Instagram

Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian got engaged last year. Photo: @kourtneykardash/Instagram

Kim Kardashian told Ellen DeGeneres she found her happiness in Pete Davidson. Photos: @kimkardashian/Instagram, Reuters

Inside Khloe Kardashian’s incredible body transformation: after being compared to sisters Kim and Kourtney for years, she got in shape with these 5 health and fitness tips

Khloe Kardashian has gone through a drastic weight transformation over the years. Photos: @kennaymart/Twitter, @khloekardashian/Instagram

Khloe Kardashian, sister of Kim and Kourtney, turned her routine around, eating clean and working out regularly. Photo: @khloekardashian/Instagram

Khloe Kardashian attending an event. Photo: @kennaymart/Twitter

Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian arrive at the Teen Choice Awards in Universal City, California, in 2010. Photo: AP

Khloe Kardashian said in an interview with Jay Shetty that she turned to the gym for release in 2013 following her split from then-husband Lamar Odom. Photo: @khloekardashian/Instagram

Khloe Kardashian’s before and after transformation was thanks to her motivation and for taking it slow and steady. Photo: @bellate_education/Instagram

Khloe Kardashian regularly shares pictures of her progress. Photo: @khloekardashian/Instagram

Khloe Kardashian says she is still open to some indulgences, like pizza and chocolate, but on rare occasions. Photo: @khloekardashian/Instagram

Magazines

Style

Celebrities

Charlize Theron asked for the same salary as her co-star Chris Hemsworth for The Huntsman, while Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams didn’t earn as much as Bradley Cooper
Late actor Chadwick Boseman offered part of his pay to Sienna Miller for 21 Bridges, while Claire Foy, who plays Queen Elizabeth in Netflix’s The Crown, was paid less than Matt Smith


Which celebrities have challenged convention and fought for pay parity in Hollywood, both for themselves and their female peers?
