Oscar Winner Olivia Colman: \201cIf I Was Oliver Colman, I’d Be Earning a F—k of a Lot More Than I Am\201d

Colman joins the chorus of strong voices like Taraji P. Henson in talking about the pay disparity for women in Hollywood.

Olivia Colman
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Oscar-winning actress Olivia Colman spoke out about ongoing disparities in pay for women in Hollywood, telling CNN’s Christiane Amanpour on The Amanpour Hour “I’m very aware that if I was Oliver Colman, I’d be earning a fuck of a lot more than I am.”

Colman—who, in addition to winning an Academy Award, has starred in dozens of popular projects like The Crown and The Favourite—was asked by Amanpour if she herself had faced pay disparities. “Don’t get me started on the pay disparity, but male actors get paid more because they used to say they drew in the audiences,” Colman said. “And actually, that hasn’t been true for decades, but they still like to use that as a reason to not pay women as much as their male counterparts.” 

Colman added “I know of one pay disparity, which is a 12,000 percent difference.”

Olivia Colman

Colman said in no uncertain terms that if she were a man working as an actor in Hollywood, she'd be paid far better.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

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Colman isn’t the only one to raise her voice. Taraji P. Henson has been vocal lately about the same issue, including to The Hollywood Reporter; she told the outlet about feeling stuck with the same lowball offers despite having an incredibly successful career in the industry.

Taraji P. Henson

Henson has spent the better part of the past year ringing the bell loudly about pay disparity in Hollywood, especially when it comes to Black women.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

“I’ve been getting paid, and I’ve been fighting tooth and nail every project to get that same freaking quote [fee],” she told the outlet. “And it’s a slap in the face when people go, ‘Oh girl, you work all the time. You always working.’ Well, goddam—t, I have to. It’s not because I wish I could do two movies a year and that’s that. I have to work because the math ain’t mathing. And I have bills.”

Taraji P. Henson

Henson said that she is fighting to end pay disparity for those Black actresses who come behind her, so they won't have to go through the struggles she and others have faced. 

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Taraji P. Henson

Henson said she'd tried to walk away from the business twice, but couldn't let herself do it until progress had been made.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

She added “I’ve been doing this for two decades and sometimes I get tired of fighting because I know what I do is bigger than me. I know that the legacy I leave will affect somebody coming up behind me. My prayer is that I don’t want these Black girls to have the same fights that me and Viola [Davis], Octavia [Spencer], we out here thugging it out. Otherwise, why am I doing this? For my own vanity? There’s no blessing in that. I’ve tried twice to walk away [from the business]. But I can’t, because if I do, how does that help the ones coming up behind me?”

Rachel Burchfield
Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor

Rachel Burchfield is a writer, editor, and podcaster whose primary interests are fashion and beauty, society and culture, and, most especially, the British Royal Family and other royal families around the world. She serves as Marie Claire’s Senior Celebrity and Royals Editor and has also contributed to publications like Allure, Cosmopolitan, Elle, Glamour, Harper’s Bazaar, InStyle, People, Vanity Fair, Vogue, and W, among others. Before taking on her current role with Marie Claire, Rachel served as its Weekend Editor and later Royals Editor. She is the cohost of Podcast Royal, a show that was named a top five royal podcast by The New York Times. A voracious reader and lover of books, Rachel also hosts I’d Rather Be Reading, which spotlights the best current nonfiction books hitting the market and interviews the authors of them. Rachel frequently appears as a media commentator, and she or her work has appeared on outlets like NBC’s Today Show, ABC’s Good Morning America, CNN, and more. 

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