Jennifer Lawrence Praised by Emma Watson, Jessica Chastain for Slamming Hollywood Pay Gap

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Getty Images
Kelli Serio

Hollywood’s highest paid leading lady, Jennifer Lawrence, received a round of applause online Tuesday from several of her female counterparts, after she slammed the gender pay gap in the entertainment industry.

Lawrence was recruited to write for Lena Dunham’s new website, called Lenny Letter, and the 25-year-old star has penned an essay that addresses wage disparity and sexism in the industry.

“It’s hard for me to speak about my experience as a working woman because I can safely say my problems aren’t exactly relatable,” Lawrence began.

She continued:

When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn’t get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself.

I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn’t want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don’t need.

In the letter, Lawrence referred to Dunham as a “genius,” and said she’s never been one to follow trends, including feminism and even the ALS ice-bucket-challenge.

In regards to why she did not fight harder in the past to negotiate her paycheck, Lawrence said:

I didn’t want to seem ‘difficult’ or ‘spoiled.’ At the time, that seemed like a fine idea, until I saw the payroll on the Internet and realized every man I was working with definitely didn’t worry about being ‘difficult’ or spoiled.’

J-Law is now being praised by her feminist peers for the essay, as actresses Emma Watson, Elizabeth Banks, and Jessica Chastain have all turned to social media to cheer her on.

Read Lawrence’s full essay, here.

Check out their tweets below:

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