Bradley Cooper Pledges to Help Close Hollywood Wage Gap
In response to Jennifer Lawrence‘s scathing examination of the wage gap between actors and actresses in Hollywood, Bradley Cooper has pledged to partner with the actresses he’s co-starring with when negotiating his contracts for upcoming films. “I don’t know where it’s changing otherwise but that’s something that I could do,” Cooper told Reuters. “Usually you don’t talk about the financial stuff, you have people. But you know what? It’s time to start doing that.”
Cooper – who starred alongside Lawrence in films like Silver Linings Playbook, Serena and American Hustle – admitted that he was upset upon learning that the male leads in the latter film – himself, Jeremy Renner and Christian Bale – were all paid significantly more than co-star Amy Adams, who was nominated for an Academy Award for her role. Adams “should have been paid more than everybody,” Cooper said. “She worked every day on that movie and got paid nothing. It’s really horrible actually, it’s almost embarrassing.”
As Lawrence writes in her Lenny essay, she only realized the wage gap affecting actresses thanks to leaked documents from the Sony hack. “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,” she 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.”
Lawrence promised she wouldn’t be as malleable in her future contract negotiations. “I’m over trying to find the ‘adorable’ way to state my opinion and still be likable! Fuck that,” Lawrence wrote. “I don’t think I’ve ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It’s just heard. Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper all fought and succeeded in negotiating powerful deals for themselves. If anything, I’m sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share.”