How Charlize got her way on equal pay for women
ACTRESS Charlize Theron has urged women to “put their foot down” over equal pay, after telling how she negotiated a fair deal for her latest movie.
Leaked documents have recently revealed a number of female actresses who had been paid less than their co-stars.
In an interview with Elle magazine, Theron said she was given equal pay with her co-stars for her role in the forthcoming Snow White and the Huntsman sequel, after she simply demanded to earn the same.
“I have to give them credit because once I asked, they said yes. They did not fight it. And maybe that’s the message: that we just need to put our foot down.”
The Oscar-winning actress said too many people thought feminism was about hating men, when it simply meant equal rights. “This is a good time for us to bring this to a place of fairness, and girls need to know that being a feminist is a good thing,” she told Elle.
“It doesn’t mean that you hate men. It means equal rights. If you’re doing the same job, you should be compensated and treated in the same way.”
In December, leaked documents relating to American Hustle disclosed that Jennifer Lawrence and Amy Adams were given a smaller share of the profits than male co-stars Christian Bale, Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner.
Theron said she was angered by the differences.
“When I thought about the temperature out there — with finding out what Jennifer and Amy were being paid on a set FAIR: Theron has put her foot down with guy actors who are their counterparts . . . They’re just as good as any of the guys on there. Yeah, that p***** me off.”
The Huntsman is a prequel to 2012’s Snow White and the Huntsman; Theron reprises her LOVE OF HER LIFE: Charlize Theron attends the premiere of ‘The Gunman’ with her partner, Sean Penn, in Los Angeles in March
They’re just as good as any of the guys on there. Yeah, that p***** me off
role as Queen Ravenna. The original took $397-million globally at the box office, despite being engulfed by scandal over an alleged affair between star Kristen Stewart and director Rupert Sanders.
It will be released in April next year. It has been reported that Theron and co-star Chris Hemsworth were each paid $10million.
In 2013, Theron was named the sixth-highest-paid actress in the world by Forbes.
She has declared her partner — actor and director Sean Penn — as the love of her life but admitted it had been difficult to work together on set. Penn recently directed Theron and Javier Bardem in The Last Face, which has yet to have a release date.
“Putting aside that he’s my partner, he’s the love of my life; for the first time I felt that my work was really bleeding into my life and that made it hard,” the actress said.
“There were moments where I was incredibly unfair to him. And moments where I felt like . . . he was incredibly unfair to me.
“But it makes you realise that no matter how complicated it gets, the priority is the relationship.”
In a previous interview with Vogue, Theron admitted she was fearful of “screwing up” her relationship with Penn, having had an 18-year friendship.
In the run-up to the release of her latest movie, Mad Max: Fury Road, she said she felt objectified by her first Hollywood role, in 2 Days in the Valley , and did not work for almost two years to avoid similar roles.
“Someone thought it was a good idea to market almost the entire movie on me; objectifying me a little bit,” she said.
“I got a lot of attention from it, but the problem was that, afterwards, it was like: ‘We want you to do that again. Can you just do that?’ And so I didn’t work for almost two years.” — ©