Men took cuts so I could get same pay, Stone says
Emma Stone has joined a growing roster of Hollywood stars to address the gender pay gap, revealing that her male co-stars had taken pay cuts for her to achieve equal pay.
In a roundtable discussion for Out magazine, Stone sat down with former tennis star Billie Jean King, who she portrays in new movie Battle of the Sexes, and Andrea Riseborough, who plays Marilyn Barnett, King’s former lover. The conversation turned to gender-equality issues.
“In my career so far, I’ve needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them,” Stone said.
“And that’s something they do for me because they feel it’s what’s right and what’s fair.”
Stone explained how the cuts increased her standard rate going forward.
“That’s something that’s also not discussed, necessarily — that our equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say: ‘That’s what’s fair,’ ” Stone said. “It’s not about: ‘Women are this and men are that.’ It is: ‘We are all the same, we are all equal, we all deserve the same respect and the same rights.’ ”
King became known for her work toward women’s rights. Her 1973 tennis match against esteemed athlete Bobby Riggs, which is the focus of Battle of the Sexes, was only part of her fight.
“Boys and girls have grown up seeing the world through men’s eyes,” King told USA Today in 2013.
“I was playing against a man and, all of the sudden, every media [outlet] was interested because it was about them. And that’s the way the world is.”
The film also explores similar issues of inequality, including how Riggs talked about women.
“I am not saying that women don’t belong on the court—who would pick up the balls otherwise?” Steve Carrell, who plays Riggs, says in the trailer.
Battle of the Sexes is due to arrive in movie theatres in September.