Olivia Colman says she would get paid a “fuck of a lot more” if she were a male actor.
During an appearance on CNN’s The Amanpour Hour on Saturday, the Oscar winner became the latest Hollywood actor to open up about unequal wages in the film and television industry.
“Don’t get me started on the pay disparity, but male actors get paid more because they used to say they draw in the audiences,” Olivia said.
“And actually, that hasn’t been true for decades. But they still like to use that as a reason to not pay women as much as their male counterparts.”
After host Christiane Amanpour asked Olivia if she’s faced pay disparities even as a multi-award-winning performer, the Crown actor explained that if she were “Oliver Colman,” she would “be earning a fuck of a lot more than I am”.
“I know of one pay disparity, which is a 12,000% difference,” she added.
Olivia’s comments come just months after Taraji P. Henson called the disproportionate pay for Black women in the industry a “slap in the face” in an emotional interview with Gayle King on SiriusXM in December.
“It seems every time I do something and I break another glass ceiling, when it’s time to renegotiate, I’m at the bottom again, like I never did what I just did,” Taraji said at the time. “And I’m just tired. It wears on you, you know?”
Watch Olivia Colman discuss the gender pay gap in the video below: