When Ashley Judd was making Paramount’s “Kiss the Girls” in the late ’90s, she was being pursued by a mogul from a rival studio, whom she believed wanted to cast her in a film. But suddenly she found herself falling into a dark trap.
This story first appeared in the October 06, 2015 issue of Variety. Subscribe today.
“I was sexually harassed by one of the industry’s most famous, admired-slash-reviled bosses,” the actress says, revealing a story she’s never before publicly disclosed. The man, who Judd declined to name, invited her to dinner. When she arrived at his hotel, she was told to meet him upstairs in his room. “It was so disgusting,” she says. “He physically lured me by saying, ‘Help me pick out what I’m going to wear.’” The advances continued to escalate. “The ultimate thing when I was weaseling out of everything else was, ‘Will you watch me shower?’ ” Her voice cracks. “And by the way, I’ve never been offered a movie by that studio. Ever.”
Judd says the gravity of the situation didn’t hit her until later. “I did not recognize at the time what was happening to me,” she recalls. “It took years before I could retrospectively evaluate that incident, and realize that there was something incredibly wrong and illegal about it.” She’s speaking up now because she hopes her story can give strength to other women in similar circumstances. “I think that talking about it is essential to the process of becoming aware, accepting that this is reality, and then ultimately taking action,” Judd says.
For years, women in Hollywood have quietly endured sexist work environments, wage disparity, lack of job opportunity both in front of and behind the camera, and other wrongful behavior. But 2015 has marked a turning point. Hardly a week goes by in which a prominent actress or director doesn’t make headlines by blasting Hollywood for treating women as second-class citizens.
The push for equal work opportunities has gone hand in hand with an increasing outcry over sexual assault, both on college campuses and elsewhere, involving major figures such as Bill Cosby and radio host Jian Ghomeshi. The issue reached new heights when New York magazine ran a July cover story titled “I’m No Longer Afraid: 35 Women Tell Their Stories About Being Assaulted by Bill Cosby, and the Culture That Wouldn’t Listen.”
The conversation about how women are treated in Hollywood is reaching a fever pitch amid a national spotlight on feminist issues, fueled in part by presidential candidates like Hillary Clinton and Carly Fiorina, as well as author Sheryl Sandberg’s “Lean In” campaign. Indeed, there’s a new wave of feminism bubbling up whereby more women are speaking out publicly against long-endured injustices.
Even Pope Francis, on his just-concluded visit to America, preached about the importance of treating women fairly in religion, insisting it was time the church valued their “immense contribution,” and suggesting that places of worship could not afford to remain mired in old ways.
The movement among those working in entertainment counts among its members such high-profile individuals as Emma Watson (who launched the U.N.’s He for She campaign for gender equality), Meryl Streep (who created a fund for women screenwriters over the age of 40), Lena Dunham (who interviewed Clinton for her newsletter LennyLetter.com, and asked her whether she considers herself a feminist), Patricia Arquette (who used her Oscar speech to stump for wage equality) and Jessica Chastain (who spotlights issues of creative equity).
“It’s our responsibility as artists to bring up the lack of diversity in the industry,” says Chastain, offering a viewpoint that is increasingly becoming conventional wisdom among young actors. “I don’t think it applies just to women — it applies to everyone. I know for me, the last few years, seeing how few female protagonists were in the best picture nominations made me realize that our stories are being erased.”
It used to be that from time to time, women in Hollywood would complain about the paucity of opportunities, but now there’s a collective bullhorn effect. At the recent Toronto Film Festival, Sandra Bullock (“Our Brand Is Crisis”) talked out about how her latest role was originally written for a man, and Emily Blunt (“Sicario”) revealed how financiers pressured filmmakers in an attempt to change her character to a guy.
At Cannes in May, Salma Hayek Pinault spoke about Hollywood’s lack of investment in stories targeted to women: “It’s not that we are mad or that we were scared,” the actress tells Variety. “My theory is there’s now an opening for us because we represent such strong economic power,” she says, citing that women are not only their household’s decision-makers, they frequently have become the breadwinners.
The Sony hack unintentionally brought attention to the issue of unequal pay, revealing that Jennifer Lawrence’s salary on “America Hustle” was less than that of her male co-stars, although she was arguably the film’s biggest box office draw.
“Look, nobody is worth the money that Robert Downey Jr. is worth,” says Gwyneth Paltrow, referencing the star of the “Iron Man” films, in which she plays Pepper Potts. “But if I told you the disparity, you would probably be surprised.” She started to notice Hollywood’s pay gap for women when her father, Bruce Paltrow, was outraged that a male co-star without a proven track record was getting the same salary as his daughter. “It can be frustrating,” she says. “It can be painful. Your salary is a way to quantify what you’re worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels shitty.”
In May, the American Civil Liberties Union asked for an investigation into gender discrimination in the hiring of directors for movies and television shows. (Women filmmakers were asked to direct a paltry 7% of the top-grossing movies of 2014.) Some are hopeful the threat of litigation along with continuous calls for action from powerful women in Hollywood will help plant the seeds of change. “I think it’s so amazing that we are at this tipping point,” says Cathy Schulman, president of Women in Film and head of production at STX Entertainment. “My biggest fear is we won’t convert. We bring everybody together, all these voices, and we actually have to make a difference now. It’s almost as if the issue is getting hip. It’s everywhere.”
WORK TO DO
Though female-driven films have done well at the box office, women still lag far behind men in job opportunities in Hollywood.
7% Percentage of the directors of last year’s top-grossing films who were women
12% Lead protagonists that were female in last year’s movies
30% Speaking characters that were female in last year’s movies
$570m Worldwide gross of ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’
Female characters have become the focus of blockbuster franchises like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent,” and movies headlined by women like Melissa McCarthy (“Spy”), Anna Kendrick (“Pitch Perfect 2”), Amy Schumer (“Trainwreck”) and Dakota Johnson (“Fifty Shades of Grey”) have been massive box office winners in 2015.
Yet it’s still not clear if executives in Hollywood are ready to adapt. Emma Thompson recently said that sexism is only getting worse in the moviemaking business. A-list actresses were often out of options for roles once they hit 40, but now even women in their 30s are starting to feel pressure. Liv Tyler told More magazine that at 38, the only parts she’s getting offered are as “the wife or a girlfriend.” Maggie Gyllenhaal, 37, caused a ruckus earlier this year when she revealed that she was deemed too old to play the love interest to a 55-year-old man. Anne Hathaway, 32, echoed the trend in an interview with Glamour: “I’m like, ‘Why did that 24-year-old get that part?’ ”
Social media is playing a significant role in enabling women to air their grievances. The Tumblr blog “Shit People Say to Women Directors,” which allows female executives and filmmakers to anonymously post about their struggles in movies and television, became a viral sensation last spring. At the Oscars, Arquette received kudos from the blogosphere (as well as from seat-mates Streep and Jennifer Lopez) for using her supporting actress speech as a platform to advocate for wage equality for women around the world. “Women were running up to me in the street, grabbing me, hugging me,” Arquette says of the reaction following the Academy Awards telecast. “Others told me they got a raise.”
But Arquette isn’t sure if the plight of women in entertainment is improving fast enough. “I don’t think it’s getting much better,” she says. “I don’t think Hollywood is going to change until someone twists their arm. I don’t think agents have fought so hard for their female actresses’ paychecks.”
I thought the stuff Gwenyth Paltrow was saying was interesting. I feel like that is a pretty ballsy quote she gave. I suddenly like her a little bit better, lol.
“Look, nobody is worth the money that Robert Downey Jr. is worth,” says Gwyneth Paltrow, referencing the star of the “Iron Man” films, in which she plays Pepper Potts. “But if I told you the disparity, you would probably be surprised.” She started to notice Hollywood’s pay gap for women when her father, Bruce Paltrow, was outraged that a male co-star without a proven track record was getting the same salary as his daughter. “It can be frustrating,” she says. “It can be painful. Your salary is a way to quantify what you’re worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels shitty.”
Is she saying that she doesn't think RDJ should make that much money, period? Or that it eats into what the producers can pay the other actors and (especially) actresses in the franchise? Is she saying that she thinks she should be paid equally to what he is paid? I wonder who the other male co-star she is talking about is, maybe Ralph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love?
I think the Internet has a huge role in the (most recent) burgeoning anti-misogyny/feminism movement. Women can quickly and easily see they are not alone and they have a massive platform.
I have actually been thinking about this a lot lately in the context of the socially progressive turn the nation has started taking. There is a lot of work to be done but the Internet is an invaluable tool in the good fight these days.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, 37, caused a ruckus earlier this year when she revealed that she was deemed too old to play the love interest to a 55-year-old man.
Maggie didn't cause the ruckus - that makes it sound like she's somehow at "fault". The idiots who decided she's too old to play the love interest of a man almost 2 decades her senior caused the ruckus. She just brought it to light.
I think the Internet has a huge role in the (most recent) burgeoning anti-misogyny/feminism movement. Women can quickly and easily see they are not alone and they have a massive platform.
I have actually been thinking about this a lot lately in the context of the socially progressive turn the nation has started taking. There is a lot of work to be done but the Internet is an invaluable tool in the good fight these days.
Do you really mean progressive? It seems like we are progressing in some ways, especially LGBQT rights, but it seems like from a women's rights perspective we are actually regressing.
I thought the stuff Gwenyth Paltrow was saying was interesting. I feel like that is a pretty ballsy quote she gave. I suddenly like her a little bit better, lol.
“Look, nobody is worth the money that Robert Downey Jr. is worth,” says Gwyneth Paltrow, referencing the star of the “Iron Man” films, in which she plays Pepper Potts. “But if I told you the disparity, you would probably be surprised.” She started to notice Hollywood’s pay gap for women when her father, Bruce Paltrow, was outraged that a male co-star without a proven track record was getting the same salary as his daughter. “It can be frustrating,” she says. “It can be painful. Your salary is a way to quantify what you’re worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels shitty.”
Is she saying that she doesn't think RDJ should make that much money, period? Or that it eats into what the producers can pay the other actors and (especially) actresses in the franchise? Is she saying that she thinks she should be paid equally to what he is paid? I wonder who the other male co-star she is talking about is, maybe Ralph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love?
i took it that RDJ really is worth the $$ he's making and she's cool with that, but there's no reason beyond costarring with someone like him that the pay difference between male & female costars should be so dramatic.
i have a hard time with the Jlaw example. i don't know enough about the history of the film but i was under the impression she was signed before everything really hit for her. i thought i'd heard she signed while she was still doing SLP which would mean she would have made less since she wasn't as established at that time.
now the Avengers shit with ScarJo was flat out crap and i'm glad she was ultimately given a bump but the fact that it was ever at issue is what i hate about that whole business.
Post by StrawberryBlondie on Oct 8, 2015 9:56:06 GMT -5
I can't be the only one that recognizes that Hollywood pay disparity is real, and terrible, but can't really get it up to be outraged that someone made, say, 12 million instead of 25 million on a movie?
I can't be the only one that recognizes that Hollywood pay disparity is real, and terrible, bit can't really get it up to be outraged that someone made, say, 12 million instead of 25 million on a movie?
Someone brought this up back when Patricia Arquette made her Oscars comment. I get that it's hard to feel sympathy for someone who's still making gobs of money. But I think there are some other issues at play:
1) Does this pay disparity trickle down to non-stars? To the journeymen who make their living by playing a bunch of small parts instead of starring in blockbusters? My guess would be yes although I don't have any data to back that up.
2) The age issues that many actresses have raised, like Maggie Gyllenhaal being too old to play the love interest of a 50-plus man. This trickles out into society everywhere and impacts the overall depiction of women in the media and creeps into our cultural expectations.
3) The high-paid actresses have the biggest mouthpieces to bring these issues to light, but they also infect areas like producing, directing, and writing. Tina Fey had some anecdotes in Bossypants about the everyday sexism that she faced while working at SNL.
I see this as similar to Elizabeth Warren speaking up for workers on economic issues. Warren herself has been very financially successful, but she's now in a position of power to address issues that the people most affected by them cannot do effectively.
I think tacosforlife is right that it starts at the top sometimes.
I think it's bad if a female CEO gets paid less than a male CEO, all other things being equal, and I also think its bad if the female worker in the mail room gets paid less than her male counterparts. Same thing here. If Jennifer Lawrence can headline some of the biggest movies in recent years, then she should be paid accordingly.
Exactly. And Jennifer Lawrence has the power to speak out about it. The woman who works in the mail room does not.
Plus, how many times do we hear the pay gap explained away by women not asking for more? Well, they're asking for more! They shouldn't be told they can't because they already have a lot.
I can't be the only one that recognizes that Hollywood pay disparity is real, and terrible, but can't really get it up to be outraged that someone made, say, 12 million instead of 25 million on a movie?
To me, the scale doesn't matter. The issue remains the same, even if Gwyneth is in no danger of starving.
I really want to be at this place. And academically, I am. Emotionally, I have a ways to go.
ETA: I'm not saying actresses shouldn't be paid similarly to actors, all other things being equal. I absolutely think they should and its a problem that they're not.
But it's really hard for me, personally, to be 100% on board with the "Jennifer Lawrence needs another $10mil a movie because sexism" campaign.
I really want to be at this place. And academically, I am. Emotionally, I have a ways to go.
ETA: I'm not saying actresses shouldn't be paid similarly to actors, all other things being equal. I absolutely think they should and its a problem that they're not.
But it's really hard for me, personally, to be 100% on board with the "Jennifer Lawrence needs another $10mil a movie because sexism" campaign.
but if a comparable male star can command $25 million, then she DOES need another $10 million because sexism.
I hate the glorification of celebrity too, but that's an entirely separate issue.
True. I think my real, actual issue is that I don't think actors should be making, say $25mil/movie, regardless of sex. So its not that I think women & men shouldn't have parity in salary - because I do. It's that I think the cure should be for the grossly overpaid actors to be paid less.
Post by orriskitten on Oct 8, 2015 11:09:25 GMT -5
I would love to know more about the "little" people in the industry, mainly the behind the scene people who aren't directors.
Having worked on a couple of films, most of our crews were men and a few women who had some serious brass balls and tom boys. I had a blast, but it definitely stood out that it was mostly guys I was around on most days. The lack of presence is one thing, but I wonder about the pay disparity. I honestly don't know.
I bet the union has pretty damning evidence if it does trickle down. Every crew person I worked with was in the union or an intern.
Just food for thought and my own curiosity, since I'm also in the camp of having a harder time thinking in millions of dollars, but wondering how it trickles down.
I think tacosforlife is right that it starts at the top sometimes.
I think it's bad if a female CEO gets paid less than a male CEO, all other things being equal, and I also think its bad if the female worker in the mail room gets paid less than her male counterparts. Same thing here. If Jennifer Lawrence can headline some of the biggest movies in recent years, then she should be paid accordingly.
I thought she is though. I'll google but I'm pretty sure I heard on the radio that she signed a 50M deal recently.
but if a comparable male star can command $25 million, then she DOES need another $10 million because sexism.
I hate the glorification of celebrity too, but that's an entirely separate issue.
True. I think my real, actual issue is that I don't think actors should be making, say $25mil/movie, regardless of sex. So its not that I think women & men shouldn't have parity in salary - because I do. It's that I think the cure should be for the grossly overpaid actors to be paid less.
But if a movie makes 409 million (Iron Man 3 box office gross) what is the actors fair share of that?
I can't be the only one that recognizes that Hollywood pay disparity is real, and terrible, but can't really get it up to be outraged that someone made, say, 12 million instead of 25 million on a movie?
I wondered about this too with Paltrow's Iron Man example. I haven't seen the movies but for some reason I thought she had a pretty small role.* So if that's true can she complain if RDJ gets paid more but has a much bigger role? Idk, just food for thought.
*Of course, that does go back to the problem of there not being very many movies made about women so female actresses are relegated to playing girlfriends/wives which tend to be smaller parts.
^I did read somewhere that this is because producers don't think men will go see a movie about women but women will go see one about men. Idk if that is true or not. Is the Iron Man franchise much bigger than the Bridget Jones franchise for example? (I really don't know, I'm just asking only because I read that they're making a third Bridget Jones movie so I'm assuming it must have been a pretty big money maker).
I thought she is though. I'll google but I'm pretty sure I heard on the radio that she signed a 50M deal recently.
I just threw her out there as an example. One Hollywood actress making a lot of money does not make up for the other discrepancies.
No I know and I agree. I think she is a good example of an actress with a proven track record of carrying movies so I would have been shocked if she was still not being paid well comparatively as mentioned in the article.
I think tacosforlife is right that it starts at the top sometimes.
I think it's bad if a female CEO gets paid less than a male CEO, all other things being equal, and I also think its bad if the female worker in the mail room gets paid less than her male counterparts. Same thing here. If Jennifer Lawrence can headline some of the biggest movies in recent years, then she should be paid accordingly.
I thought she is though. I'll google but I'm pretty sure I heard on the radio that she signed a 50M deal recently.
No. She had EARNINGS of $52 million in 2014. That is not from "a deal." She was the highest paid actress in 2014. But Robert Downey, Jr. pulled in $80 million in 2014. Yes, $52 million is a fuckton of money. But $28 million is also a fuckton of difference between the highest paid actor and the highest paid actress.
And again, do we really think there is equal pay all through the ranks and that disparity only manifests itself in the top stars? If anyone believes that, I've got a bridge to sell you.
I thought she is though. I'll google but I'm pretty sure I heard on the radio that she signed a 50M deal recently.
No. She had EARNINGS of $52 million in 2014. That is not from "a deal." She was the highest paid actress in 2014. But Robert Downey, Jr. pulled in $80 million in 2014. Yes, $52 million is a fuckton of money. But $28 million is also a fuckton of difference between the highest paid actor and the highest paid actress.
And again, do we really think there is equal pay all through the ranks and that disparity only manifests itself in the top stars? If anyone believes that, I've got a bridge to sell you.
Sometimes, top actors also get a cut of the film's earnings in exchange for a lower initial salary. I believe this is something Tom Cruise has done with Mission Impossible, for example. Sometimes actors do it so studios will take a chance on a project, and sometimes it's because a movie has the potential to be a blockbuster.
But I wonder if that goes into the normal disparity between negotiation that is often noted on a much lower level. Women not negotiating their salary or their managers/agents not going to bat for riskier pay outs like that because of ingrained sexism. Or something.
I thought the stuff Gwenyth Paltrow was saying was interesting. I feel like that is a pretty ballsy quote she gave. I suddenly like her a little bit better, lol.
“Look, nobody is worth the money that Robert Downey Jr. is worth,” says Gwyneth Paltrow, referencing the star of the “Iron Man” films, in which she plays Pepper Potts. “But if I told you the disparity, you would probably be surprised.” She started to notice Hollywood’s pay gap for women when her father, Bruce Paltrow, was outraged that a male co-star without a proven track record was getting the same salary as his daughter. “It can be frustrating,” she says. “It can be painful. Your salary is a way to quantify what you’re worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels shitty.”
Is she saying that she doesn't think RDJ should make that much money, period? Or that it eats into what the producers can pay the other actors and (especially) actresses in the franchise? Is she saying that she thinks she should be paid equally to what he is paid? I wonder who the other male co-star she is talking about is, maybe Ralph Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love?
That was my guess, too. And her dad would have been right. Whatever else has JF even been in?
I thought the stuff Gwenyth Paltrow was saying was interesting. I feel like that is a pretty ballsy quote she gave. I suddenly like her a little bit better, lol.
“Look, nobody is worth the money that Robert Downey Jr. is worth,” says Gwyneth Paltrow, referencing the star of the “Iron Man” films, in which she plays Pepper Potts. “But if I told you the disparity, you would probably be surprised.” She started to notice Hollywood’s pay gap for women when her father, Bruce Paltrow, was outraged that a male co-star without a proven track record was getting the same salary as his daughter. “It can be frustrating,” she says. “It can be painful. Your salary is a way to quantify what you’re worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels shitty.”
Is she saying that she doesn't think RDJ should make that much money, period? Or that it eats into what the producers can pay the other actors and (especially) actresses in the franchise? Is she saying that she thinks she should be paid equally to what he is paid? I wonder who the other male co-star she is talking about is, maybe Ralph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love?
i took it that RDJ really is worth the $$ he's making and she's cool with that, but there's no reason beyond costarring with someone like him that the pay difference between male & female costars should be so dramatic.
i have a hard time with the Jlaw example. i don't know enough about the history of the film but i was under the impression she was signed before everything really hit for her. i thought i'd heard she signed while she was still doing SLP which would mean she would have made less since she wasn't as established at that time.
now the Avengers shit with ScarJo was flat out crap and i'm glad she was ultimately given a bump but the fact that it was ever at issue is what i hate about that whole business.
She *was* established. She had an Oscar nomination for Winter's Bone, and she was a household name due to The Hunger Games.
I also want to mention that "Divergent" was the first thing I'd seen Ashley Judd in in forever. I wonder if she was blackballed due in part to turning down this producer's advances.
i took it that RDJ really is worth the $$ he's making and she's cool with that, but there's no reason beyond costarring with someone like him that the pay difference between male & female costars should be so dramatic.
i have a hard time with the Jlaw example. i don't know enough about the history of the film but i was under the impression she was signed before everything really hit for her. i thought i'd heard she signed while she was still doing SLP which would mean she would have made less since she wasn't as established at that time.
now the Avengers shit with ScarJo was flat out crap and i'm glad she was ultimately given a bump but the fact that it was ever at issue is what i hate about that whole business.
She *was* established. She had an Oscar nomination for Winter's Bone, and she was a household name due to The Hunger Games.
i thought they filmed SLP during the press for the 1st HG. (please don't laugh at me, i know i'm a little invested in this kind of stuff).
i'm not saying it's right, but CB and BC had more established careers when she was signed. if it happened now and she got the shaft i'd hope shit would burn down.
I thought the stuff Gwenyth Paltrow was saying was interesting. I feel like that is a pretty ballsy quote she gave. I suddenly like her a little bit better, lol.
“Look, nobody is worth the money that Robert Downey Jr. is worth,” says Gwyneth Paltrow, referencing the star of the “Iron Man” films, in which she plays Pepper Potts. “But if I told you the disparity, you would probably be surprised.” She started to notice Hollywood’s pay gap for women when her father, Bruce Paltrow, was outraged that a male co-star without a proven track record was getting the same salary as his daughter. “It can be frustrating,” she says. “It can be painful. Your salary is a way to quantify what you’re worth. If men are being paid a lot more for doing the same thing, it feels shitty.”
Is she saying that she doesn't think RDJ should make that much money, period? Or that it eats into what the producers can pay the other actors and (especially) actresses in the franchise? Is she saying that she thinks she should be paid equally to what he is paid? I wonder who the other male co-star she is talking about is, maybe Ralph Joseph Fiennes in Shakespeare in Love?
That was my guess, too. And her dad would have been right. Whatever else has JF even been in?
He also stared in Elizabeth that year. Robert Dudley.
Since then? Lots. Or enough. Enemy at the Gates, Luther, and Merchant of Venice immediately come to mind.
Gwenyth's comment struck me from a different perspective. In that her dad (well known actor in his own right) had issue with the disparity when it came to his daughter, yet in guessing didn't think that way as it related to his own salary versus his female co-stars prior to having a daughter affected by it. I wonder if having a child in the biz impacted by the disparity has made him willing to go to bat for other women, or if it's just a "my preshus is the best" frame of mind.
I'm a little stuck on this... They're telling the stories, but what are they doing about it? Are they turning down roles? Ashley Judd never got offered a role by that company, so I assume she never really tried for one after that incident, but assume.
It's not just a problem with money. It's a problem of are women's stories of value to modern society? Look at all the fall (read: prestige) movies coming out this year. A huge supermajority of them are about the stories of men. The things men do, the things they accomplish, the journeys they travel. For god's sake, we are getting a second movie about Steve Fucking Jobs (because one isn't enough) and a second movie about that pissant frenchy twin tower tightroper. These are just tiny examples of the "men's stories" that are coming out this season. Even that Sicario movie that features Emily Blunt as an action lead fails the Bechdel test. feministing.com/2015/10/06/spoiler-alert-sicario-fails-the-bechdel-testby-a-lot/ And a lot of the trailers for that movie downplay her role. Hollywood is a fucking joke when it comes to women and the pay equity issue is just the tip of the iceburg.