Jennifer Lawrence has finally broken her silence about earning less than her male co-stars in American Hustle and penned an essay expressing her frustration at the gender pay gap in Hollywood.
Last year, the 25-year-old star found herself front and centre of a bitter row over industry sexism after the Sony hack last November revealed she earned significantly less than her male co-stars for her Oscar nominated role in the movie.
Email exchanges between studio executives showed that while she and Amy Adams received 7 per cent shares of the film’s profits, the director and three male leads- Bradley Cooper, Christian Bale and Jeremy Renner – each received 9 per cent.
In the article on Lena Dunham’s website Lenny Letter, J-Law explained she wasn’t even aware how much less she was being paid than the guys until the email exchange became public knowledge.
In the essay, titled ‘Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?’, she wrote:
When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with d***s, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need.
I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’ At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’
I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable! F*** that. Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper all fought and succeeded in negotiating powerful deals for themselves. If anything, I’m sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share.
And clearly the Hunger Games and Silver Linings Playbook star has learned from the experience as she negotiated a whopping $20 million (£13m) fee with Sony for her upcoming movie, Passengers – $8 million more than her male co-star Chris Pratt.
