The Pay Gap Between Mark Wahlberg and Michelle Williams

January 12, 2018 Entertainment

In light of award show season, it was recently reported that actor Mark Wahlberg received $1.5 million to reshoot his scenes in All The Money In The World while his costar Michelle Williams only recieved $1,000.

This has sparked a debate regarding the gender pay gap, especially since both Wahlberg and Williams are represented by the same agency. It’s also being reported that Wahlberg requested the hefty paycheck for the reshoot, and that Williams had no knowledge of it.

A spokesperson for SAG-AFTRA (Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists) has said that if Williams was paid the minimum amount that she could be paid, they wouldn’t be able to do anything about it, as Wahlberg had neogtiated his above-scale rate.

Wiliams has also been quoted as saying about the re-shoot, “I’d be wherever they needed me, whenever they needed me. And they could have my salary, they could have my holiday, whatever they wanted. Because I appreciated so much that they were making this massive effort.”

Whether the pay difference in this situation has to do with actor negotiations or not, it’s important to note the wage gap between men and women even outside of the acting world. According to a report released by the Senate Joint Economic Committee Democratic Staff, women’s median earnings are $10,800 less than men’s.

 

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Caitlin Wills is a graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder with a BA in journalism and a minor in creative writing. She has written for various websites including The Odyssey Online and The Tempest, and currently writes album reviews for MXDWN. She is also an avid fiction writer and is working on writing a novel. Follow her on Twitter @caitlinjherrera.

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