Since Patricia Arquette rocked the Oscar podium with a rousingly feminist acceptance speech earlier this year, fellow leading ladies including Carey Mulligan, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Kristen Stewart have all spoken out about their experiences of sexism and wage inequality in Hollywood — the latter fact made embarrassingly plain in leaked Sony exec emails that revealed Jennifer Lawrence scooped $7 mill to her American Hustle male counterparts’ 9. Recently, Amanda Seyfried followed suit, opening up to the Sunday Times about her unequal pay on an undisclosed project.
“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,” the actor told the paper without naming the actor or film (although other sources have speculated it’s her fellow Les Miserables revolutionary Eddie Redmayne.) “I think people think that just because I’m easy-going and game to do things I’ll just take as little as they offer,” the former Mean Girl continued. “It’s not about how much you get; it’s about how fair it is.”
Although it can be a little difficult to sympathize with anyone bringing home multi million dollar checks for their screen time, Seyfried’s sentiments echo the plight of working women across America, many of whom are still paid 78 cents to every man’s dollar. Seyfried called for others in the industry to continue the fight to close the gap, and if they face discrimination on a project, be “willing to walk away.”
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Text Emily Manning
Image via Flickr user Danny Harrison