Jessica Chastain On The Wage Gap In Hollywood

Jennifer Lawrence dropped some major truth bombs about the wage gap in Hollywood earlier this week when she not only revealed that her American Hustle salary was lower than that of her male co-stars', but she has been hesitant to negotiate her salary on films lest she come across as "spoiled" — a problem she seriously doubts her male co-stars would have. Celebrities across the board praised Lawrence for shedding light on an important issue — including Jessica Chastain, who spoke to HuffPost Live this week about her own experience when it comes to gender disparities in salary in the starry world of Hollywood. In her remarks, Chastain urged men to get involved in the wage gap discussion — an important point that will help the fight to close the gap.

"It’s wonderful that people are starting to talk about the wage gap, and really that it’s an issue. Women can talk about it, [but] it actually moves me a lot to hear men talk about it as well," she told HuffPost Live. "I think the film industry is an incredible group of people, and we’ve realized that there’s a huge problem in that we need more diversity. We’re not telling the stories of many, we’re telling the stories of few."

If Hollywood can realize that their films are lacking in diversity and seek to change that, Chastain seems to argue, then look what that community could do if they all come together to fight the wage gap. As with any historical social movement, it is crucial to have the support of not just those affected, but that of allies, too. And in the case of the gender wage gap, though women may be the ones afflicted by this situation, men should be fighting too. Chastain gives a lot of credit to her Crimson Peak co-star Tom Hiddleston for being so involved.

"It should have been done a long time ago," Hiddleston told HuffPost Live. "It just doesn't make any sense ... To me, it's completely unreasonable."

Hopefully, this is something that the community — both the community of Hollywood and the broader community in this country — can band together on to fight, and end, the pay gap.

"And there’s also a huge problem in the wage gap, in front of the camera and behind the camera, across the board," Chastain said. "And so the more that we all discuss it as a community that’s what I think is going to help." FACTS.