The star of new superhero movie Venom claims that her career has been changed forever thanks to the #MeToo movement.
In a new interview with Jezebel's The Muse, four-time Oscar nominee Williams — who made headlines last year when it was revealed that she did not make nearly as much as co-star Mark Wahlberg on Getty film All The Money In the World — told the outlet that she believes the #MeToo movement, and the conversation around gender equality in general, will ultimately be good for future generations.
"I felt like we had been gaining ground and since those words caught on — #MeToo — it completely changed the landscape, and I do believe we’ll hand our daughters a different world than the one we grew up in," Williams told the outlet, while also admitting that U.S. Brett Kavanaugh's Senate hearing and possible confirmation felt like a blow in the wrong direction.
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Still, while setbacks happen, the former Dawson's Creek star also said that the movement has made an important change in her own personal life. Williams told Jezebel that she will choose roles and projects differently moving forward.
"It feels like a path you can’t really get off of," she said. "Once you have your eyes opened, it’s difficult to close them again. I think it’ll now colour everything that I’m interested in and everything I do."
The actress continued:
"It was #MeToo [that did that]. It was the forming human chain of women that was building momentum... We didn’t think there was a place for it in society. And there is."
The conversation around equality and sexism is an important one to have, as having it is the only thing that will bring about real change. In Williams case, her situation on All the Money In the World, while another frustrating example of the pay gap between men and women for the same job, ultimately helped others in need.
After the news of the pay gap between Wahlberg and Williams was made public, the actor donated $1.5 million dollars (his salary on the reshoots that Williams was paid peanuts for) to the Time's Up initiative, which empowers people financially to fight sexual harassment, amongst other things. Williams and Wahlberg's agency, WME, donated an additional $500,000.
Of those donations, Williams told Jezebel:
"It took a lot of collaboration with women, and that’s the thing that I’m really excited to talk about. I feel like it’s a teaching moment. If a woman picks up on it and reads it and it helps her in her own work environment, then I feel like it was worthwhile."
Change is happening, and for Williams, that's a very good thing.
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