KEIRA: ‘I’VE TURNED DOWN ROLES BECAUSE OF THE PAY GAP’

SHE IS SAID TO BE WORTH over £40m and was at one time the second highestearning actress in Hollywood. But even Keira Knightley says she’s struggled to get paid fairly.

Speaking exclusively to Grazia last week, the 31-year-old revealed she has turned down lucrative film roles because she refuses to be paid less than male co-stars. ‘The Hollywood pay gap is ridiculous, and we have to do something about it,’ she told us. ‘I’ve turned jobs down many times because of it. It’s s**t.’

Keira, who spoke out at the Harper’s Bazaar Women of the Year Awards, is the latest high-profile female to address the gender pay discrepancy between actors. Earlier this year, Emma Watson told us that she used to worry about discussing the issue out of a ‘huge fear that someone was going to call me a diva… spoilt or difficult, or of people saying movie stardom or fame had changed me’.

Keira’s words came as Mila Kunis revealed, ‘I have been insulted, sidelined, paid less, creatively ignored and otherwise dismissed based on my gender.’ She also claimed a Hollywood producer threatened to end her career when she refused to pose half-naked for a magazine.

Keira, who has a 17-month-old daughter, Edie, with husband James Righton, has become outspoken on the subject of sexism, and has previously lamented a ‘lack of female voices being heard’ in cinema.

Last week, she hit out at Britain’s ‘archaic’ maternity laws and ‘shocking’ childcare costs, saying, ‘I’ve become aware of how lucky I am to be able to afford really good childcare, as otherwise it would be at least four years out of my life. You need to be a family unit, not just have the guy there for two weeks and then go back to work and the mother is left desperately trying to figure it out. It’s archaic.’

Her comments will add to her reputation as a down-to-earth star. In 2013, she paid herself just £30,000, despite an income that year of more than £1.5m. At the time, she said, ‘Living an [expensive] lifestyle means you can’t hang out with people who don’t live that lifestyle. It alienates you. Some of my best, most hilarious times have been in the least luxurious places.’ Did someone say Keira for President?