Amanda Seyfried Oscars - H 2013
Getty ImagesAmanda Seyfried added her name to the list of women speaking out about the gender pay gap in Hollywood. The actress spoke with The Sunday Times and revealed she was once paid significantly less than a male co-star.
“A few years ago, on one of my big-budget films, I found I was being paid 10 percent of what my male co-star was getting, and we were pretty even in status,” she said.
Seyfried did not specify which movie she was referring to, but within that time frame she completed male-female duo films like Dear John with Channing Tatum (2010) and In Time with Justin Timberlake (2011). “I think people think because I’m easygoing and game to do things, I’ll just take as little as they offer,” she said. “But it’s not about how much you get, it’s about how fair it is.”
More and more actresses are publicly discussing the lack of gender equality in Hollywood, particularly since the Sony hack revealed a large wage disparity in how men and women are paid for the same film.
Seyfried said it’s not always easy to negotiate a salary increase, which is what Charlize Theron did when she realized she was being paid less than her Snow White and the Huntsman sequel co-star Chris Hemsworth. As Seyfried points out, there’s always a risk involved.
“You have to decide if you’re willing to walk away from something, especially as a woman,” she said.
