Demi Moore recalls public anger over her earnings for the movie ‘Striptease’
Demi Moore recently opened up about the sexist wage gap in Hollywood.
Demi spoke on The New York Times’ The Interview podcast about experiencing a public backlash for demanding a $12.5 million pay for her performance in the 1996 film Striptease.
“Well, with ‘Striptease,’ it was as if I had betrayed women, and with ‘G.I. Jane,’ it was as if I had betrayed men,” noted the actress.
Nonetheless, Demi remarked, “I think the interesting piece is that when I became the highest-paid actress — why is it that, at that moment, the choice was to bring me down?”
The actress said, “I don’t take this personally. I think anyone who had been in the position that was the first to get that kind of equality of pay would probably have taken a hit.
“But because I did a film that was dealing with the world of stripping and the body, I was extremely shamed,” Demi told me.
When discussing equal pay at the time, the actress told the podcast, “It’s no different than when I did the cover for Vanity Fair Pregnant,” referring to the now-iconic 1991 cover image by Annie Leibovitz.
Demi continued: “I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, why women when they were pregnant needed to be hidden?”
Demi will next be seen in The Substance, a new body-horror film, which will be released in theaters on September 20.