The influential actress, Jennifer Lawrence, once recounted a demeaning situation she experienced while filming a movie which she preferred to keep unnamed. She remembered, ‘A fellow actress was dismissed for not shedding pounds quickly enough prior to my arrival. During this period, a woman producer requested me to appear in a bare lineup alongside about five women who were notably slimmer than me. Following this devalorizing and embarrassing experience, the woman producer suggested I use my naked pictures as motivation for my diet.’
Elijah Wood, known for his central role in Lord of the Rings at the tender age of 18, has made public his views on child manipulation within the cinema industry. Concurrently, he champions for more stringent protection measures for underage actors. Furthermore, renowned actress Charlize Theron in 2017 drew attention to the chauvinistic traits of Hollywood. Her comments underscored the minimal opportunities for women to helm projects with significant budgets.
Joaquin Phoenix, another luminary in Hollywood, has repeatedly voiced his unease regarding his celebrity status. A key element of his disquiet is the compulsory surrender of personal privacy that inevitably accompanies A-List stardom. Megan Fox, whose foray into acting commenced when she was just 15 years old, has labeled the film industry as ‘sexist’. This label was articulated as she discussed her experiences of being objectified and sexualized in the industry from her young teen years.
Octavia Spencer, an esteemed actress, has pointed to the wage disparity across the entertainment industry. She fondly recalls an occasion when her co-star, Jessica Chastain, played a substantial role in negotiating a much-deserved increase in her remuneration for a specific project. Gillian Anderson of The X-Files fame had strove to secure pay parity with her co-star, David Duchovny. Yet, after several years, she was dismayed to find herself grappling with the same issue when she was offered a half of David’s payment for the 2016 reboot of the series.
Arden Cho received a shockingly lowball offer of less than half of the pay promised to her former Teen Wolf colleagues for a movie role. As the only representative of color among the young main cast, Arden made the commendable decision to reject the undervalued proposal. She later revealed to The Cut, ‘I can easily name more than 10 Asian-American actors I am acquainted with, who have been dramatically underpaid compared to their peers.’
Reese Witherspoon, a powerhouse in the industry, in 2017 spoke out about a distressing experience of falling victim to harassment by a director at the age of 16. A noticeable dismissal from the Hollywood scene befell Katherine Heigl in 2009. This resulted from her public criticisms of the purportedly ‘harsh’ employment conditions she encountered on the set of Grey’s Anatomy. In the following year, Gabrielle Union shed light on the wage divide in Hollywood, with the divide being particularly stark among actors of ethnic minorities.
Amanda Seyfried unveiled an unsettling memory of being compensated a mere tenth of her male counterpart’s wage for a high-budget film. This occurred despite the fact that they both had already achieved substantial fame in the industry. Taraj P. Henson was emotionally overwhelmed in 2023 when discussing her continued struggle for wage equality in the cinematic world. This struggle was further intensified by her experiences as a Black woman in the industry.
The post Hollywood’s Hidden Struggles: Stars Speak Up on Wage Parity appeared first on Real News Now.
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