Natalie Portman: 'Ashton Kutcher was paid three times more than me for 2011 film'
Natalie Portman has dropped a bomb on Hollywood's equal pay debate by revealing Ashton Kutcher was paid three times more than she was for 2011's No Strings Attached.
Hollywood's leading ladies have been calling for fairer pay ever since the 2015 Sony hack confirmed fears actresses were being paid much less than their male co-stars.
Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, and Scarlett Johansson have
weighed in with their own experiences, while Sienna Miller revealed
she quit a play after learning her leading man was taking home more
pay.
And now it's pregnant Portman's turn to comment, telling Marie
Claire UK she was horribly underpaid for the 2011 romantic
comedy.
"Ashton Kutcher was paid three times as much as me on No Strings
Attached," she tells the publication. "I knew and I went along with
it because there's this thing with 'quotes' in Hollywood.
"His (quote) was three times higher than mine, so they said he
should get three times more. I wasn't as p**sed as I should have
been. I mean, we get paid a lot, so it's hard to complain, but the
disparity is crazy.
"Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the
dollar. In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar."
The Hunger Games star Lawrence really took the pay disparity debate
to a new level by writing a letter for Lena Dunham's Lenny
newsletter, titled Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars? In the
2015 article, the actress blamed herself for failing to demand a
fair wage for her work on acclaimed comedy drama American
Hustle.
"I got mad at myself," she wrote. "I failed as a negotiator because
I gave up early... I would be lying if I didn't say there was an
element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close
the deal without a real fight. I didn't want to seem 'difficult' or
'spoiled'."