Back in January, the world learned just how egregious the gender pay gap can be when news broke that actress Michelle Williams earned less than 1% of her co-star Mark Wahlberg for reshoots of the film All the Money in the World. While the male actor received $1.5 million for his work, Williams received $80 per day—a total of less than $1,000.
Williams largely stayed out of the spotlight during the controversy and if she was outraged, didn’t show it. The statement she released at the time focused on the support she received, rather than on her personal experience. “Today isn’t about me,” the statement read. “My fellow actresses stood by me and stood up for me, my activist friends taught me to use my voice, and the most powerful men in charge, they listened and they acted.”
One of those fellow actresses, Ashley Judd, said during a Tuesday panel at the Bloomberg Business of Equality summit that though Williams didn’t publicly react at the time, she was “shattered” by the knowledge. Judd also confirmed Williams’ account, telling the audience that people in their network “s tarted calling the bosses over the weekend” and fought to get Williams the pay she deserved from William Morris Endeavor, a talent that also represents Wahlberg (and thus negotiated both his $1.5 million paycheck and her $1,000 one). Wahlberg later donated his entire salary to Time’s Up, a legal defense fund that provides subsidized support to those who have experienced workplace sexual harassment, assault, or abuse. WME added another $50o,000 to the donation.
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