Emma Stone says male co-stars have taken pay cuts to ensure equal pay
Stone said gesture impacted what she asks for in the future
La La Land actress Emma Stone said her male co-stars have taken pay cuts to ensure she received equal pay on films.
"In my career so far, I've needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them," said Stone, "and that's something they do for me because they feel it's what's right and fair."
Speaking to tennis great Billie Jean King in an interview published Thursday in Out Magazine, Stone said the gesture to match has impacted what she's able to ask for in the future.
The Oscar-winner portrays King in the upcoming film Battle of the Sexes about the tennis star's 1973 match against Bobby Riggs.
Stone said that equal pay as a joint effort is "something that's also not discussed, necessarily — that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, 'That's what's fair.'"
'Men are so vital to these changes'
King told Stone that her experience is "an example of why men are so vital to these changes — because they're usually in the power position, and if they start to change the paradigms, things start to shift."
Stone has spoken about the gender pay gap in Hollywood before, as have big screen stars like Mila Kunis, Jennifer Lawrence, and Amy Adams.
Stone's experience is not universal, though.
Stone's Battle of the Sexes co-star Andrea Riseborough told King in the interview that she has not had the same experience and has been paid less than male co-stars even when she's asked for a raise.