Gwyneth Paltrow Praises Jennifer Lawrence for Demanding Equal Pay: 'It Was Very Brave'
Despite Jennifer Lawrence briefly dating Gwyneth Paltrow's ex Chris Martin, the 43-year-old actress tells ET that she finds The Hunger Games star "brave" for speaking out about the double standard in Hollywood.
"I think it was very brave of her to articulate it like that," Paltrow told ET at the La Mer Celebrates 50 Years of an Icon event. "It's fascinating because part of the issue is that women don't feel entitled to talk about a gender gap."
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On Tuesday morning, Lena Dunham and Jenni Konner's Lenny newsletter published an essay penned by Lawrence, where she wrote about getting paid less than her male co-stars in American Hustle.
"When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn't get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself," the 25-year-old star wrote. "I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn't want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don't need."
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Both Lawrence and Paltrow admit that they are "fortunate" to be receiving such a "fantastic salary" in the entertainment industry, but the pay gap between men and women is still an issue. "I think it's very brave to say, 'Hey wait a minute. I'm just not being paid the same as a man, just based on that job,'" the Iron Man actress explained.
"I didn't want to seem 'difficult' or 'spoiled.' At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being 'difficult' or 'spoiled,'" Lawrence said of her salary negotiations. "This is an element of my personality that I’ve been working against for years, and based on the statistics, I don’t think I’m the only woman with this issue."
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Bradley Cooper, Lawrence's co-star in American Hustle, also came to Lawrence's defense when he spoke to ET.
"There's a double standard in the whole world, yeah, for sure. This is just one aspect," Cooper said. "Anytime there's a place where a voice can come out and be outspoken -- something Sienna did, or Jennifer -- that's great. ... I think it is making a difference."
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