Jennifer Lawrence is talking about the gender wage gap again. "I didn't want to seem like a brat," the Joy star told CBS News on Tuesday. She explained that she blamed herself for being paid less than her male co-stars, admitting that negotiating a salary, as a woman, can be awkward and super intimidating.
“There was no one to blame but myself,” she told Charlie Rose. “I knew it wasn’t Sony’s fault. There is a gender bias that we, as women, put upon ourselves.”
At times, it has been uncomfortable for her to address the issue, she said, since she has had to grow up in the spotlight. But now, she realizes how important it is for her to use her voice for those who cannot: “If I don’t use my voice for women who don’t have a voice, then what’s the point?”
It has been one year since the Sony Pictures hack, which opened up a Pandora’s box regarding equal pay in Hollywood. One of the discoveries made in the revealing emails was the alarming pay discrepancy between Jennifer Lawrence and her male co-stars, like Bradley Cooper and Christian Bale, in American Hustle. Both her and her co-star Amy Adams were grossly underpaid for their leading roles in the film. Then, in October, Lawrence wrote an essay that went viral for its volatile remarks and has since addressed the issue numerous times.
In this CBS News interview, Lawrence said it wasn’t always easy for her to talk about things she felt strongly about. “People don’t like opinionated actors or celebrities,” she said. “It is scary to do it, because you could be losing friends or box office tickets.” Since J Lawr has clearly overcome her fear of being opinionated, we look forward to seeing where she takes the conversation next.
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