‘I was very upset’: Claire Foy admits she thought pay gap with Matt Smith on The Crown was ‘heartbreaking’ and didn’t want it to ‘overshadow’ her experience on show
Claire Foy has revealed she found the fact Matt Smith was paid more than her on The Crown ‘really heartbreaking’.
The actress, 38, played the lead role of Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix show while Matt, 40, starred as her husband Prince Philip.
An executive from Left Bank Pictures, the production company that makes The Crown, previously revealed Claire was paid less than Matt for her work on the show.
Speaking to The Guardian, the star insisted she was unaware Matt made more than her until the executive made the news public.
She said: ‘I wasn’t shocked. I was upset. Not like, boohoo, crying upset. I was very upset. I don’t think I allowed myself to [express anger]’.
Candid: Claire Foy has revealed she found the fact Matt Smith was paid more than her on The Crown ‘really heartbreaking’
Role: The actress, 38, played the lead role of Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix show while Matt, 40, starred as her husband Prince Philip
‘Sometimes, you see something, you hear something, you notice something, or something happens to you, and you just go, “Oh God, what am I doing? Why am I doing it? Should I be part of this?” I found it really heartbreaking.’
Claire said she found it ‘odd’ to be at the centre of the story when it first emerged and didn’t want to be made into a spokesperson for the gender pay gap issue.
The Women Talking star added that she still went back on the show for another season after the salary gap became known.
She explained: ‘We’re still talking about this, however many years down the line. I know the extent of it. I still went back on the show. If anything, I just didn’t want my experience of the show and what we all did on it to be overshadowed.’
Claire said the pay gap row has had a positive impact overall as people can no longer lie about what actors are being paid.
Left Bank Pictures apologised to Claire and Matt at the time and claimed sole responsibility in the difference between their salaries.
Claire joked her agent probably enjoyed going back to the company later to discuss what she would be paid for the second season.
Elsewhere in the interview, Claire discussed having a breakdown in the early days of her acting career as she struggled to deal with the instability of the industry.
She said: ‘I wasn’t shocked. I was upset. Not like, boohoo, crying upset. I was very upset. I don’t think I allowed myself to [express anger]’
Interview: Claire said she found it ‘odd’ to be at the centre of the story when it first emerged and didn’t want to be made into a spokesperson for the gender pay gap issue
She moved from Stockport, Greater Manchester to London and quickly found acting jobs but said she was hardly eating or sleeping at the time as she wanted to work so hard.
Claire previously told PorterEdit that she was ‘deeply hurt’ by the pay gap between her and co-star Matt.
She explained: ‘I was deeply hurt by [the pay gap], because I’d been working on that show for two years. I loved everybody on it.
‘And then I realised, there’s been a big, fat, dirty secret that nobody’s ever talked about. Then there was also that thing [of being] an inadvertent spokesperson. Why did it have to be me?’
She added: ‘You feel lucky to have a job. It’s so competitive. So, in that way, they rely on competitiveness and actors’ vulnerability to say, “They’ll accept it for 10 grand less.”‘
‘I could have said nothing. And I think everyone would have preferred that. But I thought, if I do that, I will be cheating myself and all the other women I know.’
Future: Claire said the pay gap row has had a positive impact overall as people can no longer lie about what actors are being paid (pictured in January 2023)
Source: Read Full Article