Ashton Kutcher is "so proud" of his No Strings Attached co-star Natalie Portman for highlighting the differences in their pay for the 2011 film.
The pair starred as lovers in the romcom, which told the story of a couple who fell for each other after embarking on a solely sexual relationship. Speaking to Marie Claire U.K. this week, Natalie shocked fans when she revealed that Ashton was paid three times as much as her for the movie, and now the actor is praising the actress for drawing attention to an issue that has been causing controversy in Hollywood in recent years.
"So proud of Natalie and all women who stand up for closing the gender pay gap!" Ashton tweeted.
Many of Hollywood's leading ladies have been calling for fairer pay, such as Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Chastain, and Scarlett Johansson, who weighed in with their own experiences, while Sienna Miller revealed she quit a play after learning her leading man was taking home more pay.
During her chat with Marie Claire, pregnant Natalie vented: "Ashton Kutcher was paid three times as much as me on No Strings Attached. I knew and I went along with it because there's this thing with 'quotes' in Hollywood.
"His (quote) was three times higher than mine, so they said he should get three times more. I wasn't as p**sed as I should have been. I mean, we get paid a lot, so it's hard to complain, but the disparity is crazy.
"Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar. In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar."
Ashton is well aware of the sexism that can occur in the movie industry, and his website A Plus published a piece written by his wife Mila Kunis about the issue in November (16).
"Throughout my career, there have been moments when I have been insulted, sidelined, paid less, creatively ignored, and otherwise diminished based on my gender," Mila wrote.
"I taught myself that, to succeed as a woman in this industry, I had to play by the rules of the boy's club. But the older I got and the longer I worked in this industry, the more I realised that it's bulls**t! And, worse, that I was complicit in allowing it to happen."
