Jennifer Lawrence may be the highest paid actress in Hollywood but she is still paid millions less than her male counterparts. And the Oscar winner has had enough. She hit out against film industry sexism in a blunt essay on Tuesday for an online feminist newsletter. The actor blasted pay inequality between the sexes in her post for Lenny, a newsletter co-founded by Lena Dunham, but admitted she had failed to tackle the issue out of fear of being labelled “difficult” or “spoiled.”
She said that when she found out from Sony emails leaked last year that she was paid less than her male co-stars in the hit-movie American Hustle, she didn’t get mad at Sony but at herself.
“I would be lying if I didn’t say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight,” Lawrence said in her post. “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.’”
Meryl Streep speaks to the audience at the Women in the World summit in London on October 8. The actor recently said she was paid less than actors. (REUTERS)
The Hunger Games actor added that male colleagues appeared annoyed when she had recently shared her opinion about sexism in the industry. “I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable! F*ck that,” she wrote. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It’s just heard.”
She also said she found it offensive that one of the hacked Sony emails had referred to fellow movie star Angelina Jolie as a “spoiled brat.” “For some reason, I just can’t picture someone saying that about a man,” she wrote.
Lawrence, who won an Oscar for her role in the 2012 comedy Silver Linings Playbook, is one of Hollywood’s youngest stars at age 25. She’s also one of its highest earners, topping Forbes magazine’s 2015 list of best-paid actresses at $52 million dollars.
But that’s still nearly $30 million short of the $80 million raked in by Robert Downey Jr., who topped the list for the third consecutive year.
Last week, Meryl Streep -- one of Hollywood’s most successful actors -- spoke out about sexism in the film industry, saying that even she receives less pay than male co-stars. Streep was talking to the BBC ahead of the London premiere of her film, Suffragette, about the militant campaign in support of women’s voting rights in the UK.
