Actor Bradley Cooper praised his frequent co-star Jennifer Lawrence on Wednesday for speaking out about gender pay gap in Hollywood and for saying that it was high time to start fixing the exacerbating problem.
The "American Sniper" told Reuters at a promotional event for his latest film "Brunt" that it was "fantastic" that Jennifer had taken up the cause. He added that her popularity have her a great "platform." "Would people listen if another woman said it?" Bradley asked.
Jennifer won an Oscar for "Silver Linings Playbook." Too, Forbes proclaimed her as the world's highest-paid actress last year, with an estimated $52 million in earnings.
International Design Times previously reported that the actress unleashed a no-holds barred attack on the wage gap on Tuesday in an essay. Jennifer wrote a piece entitled "Why Do I Make Less Than My Co-stars" for Lena Dunham's Lenny newsletter.
To recall, "The Hunger Games" actress said she had worried about being labeled a spoiled brat when negotiating movie deals. However, the whole story changed when she discovered through leaked Sony Pictures emails last year that she had been paid millions less than any of her three male co-stars which include Bradley, for her role in 2013's film "American Hustle." "I got mad at myself. I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early," Jennifer said at that time.
Bradley said he had been surprised to discover what "American Hustle" co-actor Amy Adams was paid for, which won her a best actress nomination. Forbes said he earned $41.5 million in the past year.
"She worked every day on that movie and got paid nothing," Bradley said. "It's really horrible actually, it's almost embarrassing."
He said Amy "should have been paid more than everybody" for her work on the successful move. He also said he hoped Jennifer's essay would "allow people like Amy to also speak up."
Bradley said he has begun teaming up with female co-stars to negotiate salaries before any motion picture he is interested in working on goes into production when asked about his own bid to address the pay gap.
"I don't know where it's changing otherwise but that's something that I could do," Bradley stated in a statement. "Usually you don't talk about the financial stuff, you have people. But you know what? It's time to start doing that."
