Robin Wright Still Isn’t Getting Paid As Much As Kevin Spacey On House Of Cards

robin-wright-house-of-cards

by Anna Brech |
Published on

Women the world over saluted Robin Wright last year, as the House of Cards actress revealed how she had demanded equal pay to her co-star Kevin Spacey.

As the ruthless and calculating Claire Underwood, Robin shares the same amount of screen time as Kevin - who plays President Francis Underwood - and yet was being paid far less than the rumoured $500,000 (£389,000) an episode that he commands.

So, Robin, armed with the knowledge of her character's popularity on the show, threatened to expose the disparity unless producers sorted it.

“I was like, ‘You better pay me, or I’m going public,’” Robin told the audience, during a Q&A session at the Rockefeller Foundation.

The story quickly went viral as a rare example of a Hollywood woman winning at the pervasive problem of gender injustice.

But there's a catch. It turns out Robin still hasn't actually succeeded in balancing the scales.

Asked whether she was proud to have shattered the glass ceiling in a new interview with Rhapsody magazine, Robin replies:

"Yeah... I don’t think I’m getting paid the same amount. They told me I was getting a raise. But … I don’t think so."

robin-wright-house-of-cards
Despite making a statement about it last year, Robin Wright still isn't being paid as much as her male co-star ©House of Cards

It appears the star, who landed a Golden Globe for her pitch-perfect depiction of Claire, was deceived by empty promises of her bosses - in a situation that echoes with women everywhere.

"I really don’t like being duped," she says. "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."

Of course, Hollywood stars get paid a huge amount more than the average Joe; but this gap mirrors an imparity that women from all walks of life have fought to address for decades.

The imbalance in gender pay stands at 18.1% in the UK, in a problem that is exacerbated by issues such as maternity leave, little flexible working options and a lack of women at senior levels of business.

Under a new law, companies with 250 employees or more will be forced to publish their gender pay gaps from next year - in a move that is designed to combat gender discrimination by putting pressure on individual organisations to tackle it.

Media Rights Capital, the company that writes Robin's pay checks on House of Cards, says it can't address the pay difference since Kevin has always been a founding producer on the show.

However, they claim they will increase her pay incrementally, with an executive producer credit and lots of directing opportunities.

Read More: We'll Have To Wait 24 Years For The Gender Pay Gap To Close

Read More: UK Government Launches Gender Pay Gap Initiative

Just so you know, whilst we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website, we never allow this to influence product selections - read why you should trust us