The 30-year-old actress says she almost got 'emotional' upon being told she makes equal pay in the midst of a widespread movement in Hollywood toward eliminating disparities.
Evan Rachel Wood says she was almost "emotional" to recently find out that she was being paid the same as her male co-stars on HBO's Westworld.
In an interview with The Wrap, Wood said she gasped upon receiving that news.
“I was just told that, you know, ‘Hey you’re, you’re getting equal pay.’ And I was like,” she told the site, miming a gasp. “And I almost got emotional. I was like, ‘I have never been paid the same as my male counterparts … Never, never.'”
Wood said that it was particularly surprising, given her male co-stars' status in Hollywood.
“It’s like, ‘Well, you’re Anthony Hopkins or Ed Harris,’" she said. "But I think now we’re all doing equal amounts of work and really hard work.”
The issue of pay inequality in Hollywood has gotten renewed attention as the "Time's Up" and #MeToo movements against sexual misconduct in the workplace took off over the last year or so. Patricia Arquette was one of the early champions of the issue and says that she has paid for it by losing out on roles after speaking about inequality in 2015 upon winning the Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role in Boyhood.
Since then, more stars have come forward to speak out about pay disparities in Hollywood, including Emma Stone, Jessica Chastain, Robin Wright, Michelle Williams and Gillian Anderson, just to name a few.
Wood told The Wrap that it was heartening to get some good news about the issue.
“There is a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes. There is a lot of trying to make things equal and trying to make things fair," she said. "I don’t know, there is a lot of stuff. But this is the first time that somebody made a point of being like, ‘Hey you’re getting this. And you deserve it.’ And that was nice.”
For more on pay disparities in Hollywood, watch the video below.
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