‘Long way to go’ in closing pay gap

Actor Emma Stone, who’s being praised for her film Battle of the Sexes, about an epic tennis match that was highly relevant to the movement for equality, feels that there’s still a “long way to go” in closing the gender pay gap.

Stone, 28, portrays the legendary tennis player, Billie Jean King, in the upcoming biopic. The film looks at the sporting ace’s famous 1973 showdown with male player Bobby Riggs, played by Steve Carell.

Talking at a screening at the London Film Festival, Stone said, “Something Billie Jean talks about is she’d get a lot of people coming up to her and saying, ‘Billie Jean, I watched the Battle of the Sexes — the original match in ’73 — and I went to work the next day and asked for a raise.’ ‘Did you get it?’ And they’re like, ‘Yeah, because I asked for it, but you empowered me to ask for it.’ She can speak more about that than I can, but there’s still a long way to go.”

Stone recently topped the Forbes list of highest paid female actors of 2017 with $26 million, which was $42 million lower than Mark Wahlberg, who topped the highest paid male actors’ list.

Oscar winner Stone shared that while playing King, she felt privileged. “She’s such an inspirational figure and getting to dig into her psyche at age 29 and how she has shifted and grown over her life was an amazing thing to do, it was a very lucky thing,” noted the actor.

STONE RECENTLY TOPPED THE FORBES LIST OF HIGHEST PAID FEMALE ACTORS OF 2017 WITH $26 MILLION, WHICH WAS $42 MILLION LOWER THAN MARK WAHLBERG

PHOTO: DIMITRIOS KAMBOURIS/GETTY IMAGES/AFP Emma Stone, who plays Billie Jean King in The Battle of the Sexes, was named the highest paid female actor of 2017, but her earnings were not even half that of the highest paid male actor, Mark Wahlberg