Equal pay in Hollywood is back in the news in the wake of Michelle Williams and Mark Wahlberg’s wildly different paydays for “All the Money in the World’s” reshoots becoming public knowledge. The past couple of years have seen actresses including Jennifer Lawrence and Charlize Theron speaking out about the issue, and now “Grey’s Anatomy” star Ellen Pompeo has penned a wonderfully candid and empowering feature for The Hollywood Reporter detailing her own struggle for equal pay.
“I’m 48 now, so I’ve finally gotten to the place where I’m OK asking for what I deserve, which is something that comes only with age,” she writes. “Because I’m not the most ‘relevant’ actress out there. I know that’s the industry perception because I’ve been this character for 14 years. But the truth is, anybody can be good on a show season one and two. Can you be good 14 years later? Now, that’s a fuckin’ skill.”
It was “Grey’s” creator Shonda Rhimes who helped Pompeo recognize her worth — and demand to be compensated accordingly. “Decide what you think you’re worth and then ask for what you think you’re worth. Nobody’s just going to give it to you,” the TV titan told Pompeo during her contract negotiations last year. Pompeo took the words to heart — she’s now the highest-paid actress on a primetime drama.
“As a woman, what I know is you can’t approach anything from a point of view of ‘I don’t deserve’ or ‘I’m not going to ask for because I don’t want other people to get upset,’” Rhimes explains in the piece. “And I know for a fact that when men go into these negotiations, they go in hard and ask for the world.”
“In Shonda finding her power and becoming more comfortable with her power, she has empowered me,” Pompeo writes. She also discusses how many actresses in Hollywood have been meeting as part of the #TimesUp initiative and they’ve been “sharing stories and trying to figure out how [they] can promote change and use [their] voices to help other people.” According to the “Moonlight Mile” actress, “sitting in rooms full of Oscar-winning actresses listening to how they’ve been preyed upon and assaulted is frightening” and “confirmed that [her] path really was the right one … because [she’s] chosen to financially empower [herself] so that [she never has] to be ducking predators and chasing trophies.”
Pompeo’s piece is well worth reading in full. She discusses how studios exploit young actresses, the fact that her former “Grey’s” co-star Patrick Demspsey made as much as her even though Pompeo is the lead and the series is named after her character, and why she loves watching her daughter sit in the director’s chair.
“Grey’s Anatomy” is currently in its 14th season on ABC. Pompeo received a Golden Globe nom in 2007 for her role in the medical drama.
