In a recent interview, actress Natalie Portman revealed she was paid a third of what her male co-star earned in a film. Portman discussed the pay gap she received while filming 2011 film No Strings Attached for the Marie Claire U.K. interview.
The female actress discussed how at the time she wasn’t as troubled about the pay gap issue as she believed she should have been. No Strings Attached was released just before the actress won an Oscar for her role in Black Swan.
Portman at the time was already nominated for an Oscar from 2005 Closer. The actress was also a household name for her role in the Star Wars prequel film series.
The actress commented that she wasn’t as pissed as she should have been for her pay gap in 2011. She also stated that actresses usually get paid well, but the disparity of the situation was crazy.
Since the 2015 hack of Sony, thousands of documents were leaked, which included several salaries of Hollywood stars. The leak has reportedly brought light to the severity of the gender pay gap in the film industry.
The Black Swan actress also stated in her interview that compared to men in most professions, women make 80 cents to a dollar. She also claimed that in Hollywood, women are making 30 cents to the dollar.
Natalie Portman has recently had her first directorial debut with 2015 film A Tale of Love and Darkness. Allegedly the actress is also keen on hiring a female director for her upcoming biopic about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
Ginsburg is an associate Supreme Court Justice and is a women’s rights advocate.
She commented that she doesn’t think women or men are less capable. Although Portman stated that we have a clear issue with women not having equal opportunities as men.
We need to be part of the solution, Portman stated, not perpetuating the problem.
