Earlier this May, Robin Wright got incredibly candid in a feature with The Edit. The House of Cards star didn’t hold back when she explained to the magazine that her male co-star, Kevin Spacey, has a much higher salary than she does.
“I was told that I was getting equal pay and I believed them, and I found out recently that it’s not true...so that’s something to investigate,” she told the publication. It’s unclear how long ago the interview was given, but it’s safe to say that just as the hit Netflix series dropped today, many of us wondered if Wright was able to work out that whole “equal pay” situation..
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It turns out, no, she didn’t. As noted by Vulture, the 51-year-old actress spoke more about what happened in United Airlines’ in-flight publication, Rhapsody. When asked about the comments she made last year regarding the pay disparity between she and her male counterpart Wright said, “I don’t want to be a spokesperson. That was one of 20 questions they asked me, and it went viral.”
She continued, “I don’t think I’m getting paid the same amount [as co-star, Kevin Spacey]. They told me I was getting a raise. But…I don’t think so.”
It turns out Spacey is a founding producer of the series, which lends him certain privileges, including a heftier salary. What does this mean for Wright? It’s unlikely she’ll ever receive the same amount. Though it seems the company that signs her paycheques, Media Rights Capital, and Wright have reached an agreement that lends her some incentives. “They’ve offered Wright an incremental form of amends,” said Rhapsody. This gives the actress an executive producer credit as well as several directing opportunities. “According to one source close to the company, MRC has promised Wright a future production deal that could eclipse Spacey’s,” the publication noted.
While it seems like Wright has done some light back-pedalling after saying, “I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public.’ And they did,” to the audience at the Rockefeller Foundation last year, what she said wasn’t entirely false. She did go public and she was promised a future production deal, one that could even upstage Spacey’s.
Though considering that at one point she was told she was given equal pay (but wasn’t) and future promises are no tangible commodity — you have to wonder: What would Claire Underwood do?