Jennifer Lawrence attends the world premiere of Netflix’s “Don’t Look Up” on December 05, 2021 in New York
City. Dia Dipasupil | Filmmagic | Getty Images
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RELATED Jennifer Lawrence is one of the POP CULTURE AND MEDIA
highest paid actresses in the POP CULTU
A 25-year hiring pro’s favorite question to Tom Holland’s ‘seven-figure’ ‘Avengers’ Oscars 20
STORIES
world — and
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male co-stars.
The Oscar-winning actress slammed Hollywood’s persistent
gender pay gap in a new interview with Vogue, telling the
magazine that while actors are often “overpaid,” the discrepancy
still stings.
“It doesn’t matter how much I do,” she said. “I’m still not going to
get paid as much as that guy, because of my vagina?”
Lawrence, 32, earned $5 million less than Leonardo DiCaprio for
Netflix’s star-studded dystopian film “Don’t Look Up,” which was
released in December 2021, Vanity Fair reported.
“I’m extremely fortunate and happy with my deal,” Lawrence told
Vanity Fair shortly before the movie’s release. “But in other
situations, what I have seen — and I’m sure other women in the
workforce have seen as well — is that it’s extremely
uncomfortable to inquire about equal pay. And if you do question
something that appears unequal, you’re told it’s not gender
disparity, but they can’t tell you what exactly it is.”
On average, women earn about $1.1 million less than their male
co-stars, according to 2017 research from three professors: Sofia
Izquierdo Sanchez of the University of Huddersfield, Maria
Navarro Paniagua of Lancaster University, and John S Heywood
of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.
For actors over 50, that gap is even wider: Older actresses earned
almost $4 million less than male actors. Other studies have noted
that women of color are significantly underpaid compared to
white women.
This isn’t the first time Lawrence is speaking out about
Hollywood’s pay gap. The hacking of Sony Pictures’ computer
WORK systems in 2014 revealed that Lawrence’s compensation
POP CULTURE AND MEDIA for the POP CULTU
RELATED
A 25-year hiring pro’s favorite question to
STORIES 2013 film “American Hustle” had Tom
beenHolland’s ‘seven-figure’ ‘Avengers’
much less than her male Oscars 20
ask candidates—and how to answer it bonus once got sent to the wrong actor every gra
co-stars — Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner
received a 9% cut of the film’s profits, while Lawrence and Amy
Adams saw 7%, according to Business Insider.
In an essay for Lena Dunham’s now-defunct Lenny Letter
newsletter, Lawrence explained that after the Sony hack, her
anger wasn’t directed at the studio or her co-stars.
“I got mad at myself,” she wrote. “I failed as a negotiator because
I gave up early … I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of
dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need.”
Lawrence went on to explain that she hesitated to negotiate her
deal as she didn’t want to come across as “difficult” or “spoiled.”
“At the time, that seemed like a fine idea,” she added, “until I saw
the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working
with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or spoiled.’”
Check out:
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transparency law soon
Absolut CEO Ann Mukherjee shares the one piece of career
advice everyone needs to hear
Adele shared the ‘worst moment’ of her career so far—and what
it taught her: ‘It was devastating’
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