hollywood wage gap

Turns Out Robin Wright Didn’t Really Get That House of Cards Raise She Demanded

Robin Wright. Photo: VALERIE MACON/AFP/Getty Images

Remember that great moment last year when Robin Wright talked about leveraging her popularity on House of Cards for a bigger paycheck? Speaking to an audience at the Rockefeller Foundation, Wright said, “I was like, ‘You better pay me or I’m going to go public.’ And they did.” It was an empowering message for women in entertainment and working women in general. Unfortunately, it sounds like Wright’s experience throwing an ultimatum at management didn’t actually pan out the way she thought it would.

In a new interview with Rhapsody, United’s in-flight magazine, Wright tries to deflect questioning that positions her as a hero when it comes to the fight for pay equality, before disclosing that she never did get that strong-armed raise. “I don’t think I’m getting paid the same amount,” Wright said. “They told me I was getting a raise. But … I don’t think so.” Rhapsody reports that the production company behind House of Cards said a salary on par with Wright’s co-star, Kevin Spacey, is not possible because he is a founding producer of the series. Instead, apparently, the actress was offered additional incentives, such as an executive producer credit and opportunities to direct. Also: “According to one source close to the company, [House of Cards production company] MRC has promised Wright a future production deal that could eclipse Spacey’s.”

After being initially uneasy talking about her mythologized moment of glass-ceiling breaking, Wright opened up a bit more. “I really don’t like being duped. Nobody does. It’s such a male-dominant workforce still. There’s a conditioning. And changing the condition of men is what needs to happen. A reeducation. A new way of thinking. A new philosophy. I think it needs to happen in all of these industries, when we’re doing the same thing that a man is doing, and we’re still getting paid less.”

Robin Wright Didn’t Actually Get That House of Cards Raise