pay gap

Two-Time Oscar Winner Hilary Swank Was Once Offered $500,000 to Her Less Successful Male Co-star’s $10 Million

Well, here’s a quick tale that’ll boil your blood. Hilary Swank appeared with Connie Britton, Ava DuVernay, and Miss USA Deshauna Barber on Wednesday’s Chelsea, and when talk turned to gendered inequalities in the entertainment biz, boy did Swank have an anecdote to share. Apparently, not long after winning her second Academy Award, Swank got offered $500,000 for a role. Now, while that may not sound like chump change to peons like us, her would-be male co-star’s payday sticks that number in some harsh relief. Apparently, if you’re a man and you’ve been “hot” in one movie, you are worth precisely $10 million, $9.5 million more than your accolade-rich leading lady. For some reason or another, Swank passed on the part. Turns out that being the literal million-dollar baby won’t stop you from getting seriously undervalued, just so long as you’re a woman in Hollywood, or, you know, anywhere else.

Hilary Swank Shares Dramatic Pay-Gap Experience