'She had no idea what it was like for women of colour': Octavia Spencer reveals Jessica Chastain fought for them to get equal pay and earned them both a huge raise
Octavia Spencer revealed that Jessica Chastain fought for them both to get equal pay on new movie project they're working on AND earned them a raise.
The 47-year-old told the Hollywood Foreign Press Association's 'Women Breaking Barriers' panel that Chastain spoke to her over a year ago about doing a comedy together.
And six months later, she said they were talking about pay equity, but she revealed Jessica had no clue that women of colour can earn less in the industry.
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'She had no idea what it was like for women of colour': Octavia Spencer (right) revealed Jessica Chastain (left) fought for them to get equal pay and earned them both a huge raise on their new movie - pictured at the Golden Globes on January 7
She said: 'Here’s the thing, women of colour on that spectrum, we make far less than white women. So, if we’re gonna have that conversation about pay equity, we gotta bring the women of colour to the table.
'And I told her my story, and we talked numbers, and she was quiet, and she said she had no idea that that’s what it was like for women of colour.'
But Jessica, 40, who starred with Octavia on The Help in 2011, was keen to do something about it
Words: She told the Hollywood Foreign Press Association that Chastain spoke to her over a year ago about doing a comedy together - a still from The Help
Learning: And six months later, the 47-year-old said, they were talking about pay equity, but she revealed Jessica had no clue that women of colour can earn less in the industry
Octavia added: 'She said, "You and I are gonna be tied together. We’re gonna be favored nations, and we’re gonna make the same thing, you are going to make that amount".'
She revealed that last week, she was earning five times more than what she had asked for.
Octavia's latest words come after she said she was thrilled that her race was not mentioned in new movie The Shape Of Water.
She gushed about her first meeting with its writer-director Guillermo del Toro in an interview for the December/January issue of AARP Magazine.
'I knew I wanted to do it the minute my agent told me I would be meeting with Guillermo,' she said.
Though the film is set in a mainly white workplace, Octavia's race is not mentioned, which is a change for an actress who has repeatedly played people struggling to assert their civil rights, such as The Help.
'As crazy as this will sound, that was quite refreshing for me, to not have to talk about my race,' she said of the movie.
She said of Jessica (pictured): 'She had no idea that that’s what it was like for women of colour' - Octavia said that she ended up earning five times what she asked for
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