Demi Moore made historical past together with her 1996 movie Striptease. The flick earned her a $12.5 million payday, cementing her because the highest-paid actress in Hollywood and, sadly, maligning her and the film within the course of. Moore opened up in regards to the incident throughout a chat on The New York Times podcast,“The Interview.” Moore is presently selling her subsequent movie, The Substance, however she took a while to replicate on her profession and the large moments that outlined her journey within the leisure business.
“Well, with Striptease, it was as if I had betrayed women, and with G.I. Jane, it was as if I had betrayed men,” Moore stated of the movies she made within the '90s. She went on to say that the subject material of Striptease made it a straightforward goal for critics. “But I think the interesting piece is that when I became the highest-paid actress—why is it that, at that moment, the choice was to bring me down? I don’t take this personally. I think anyone who had been in the position that was the first to get that kind of equality of pay would probably have taken a hit. But because I did a film that was dealing with the world of stripping and the body, I was extremely shamed.”
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At the time, Moore was married to Bruce Willis and she or he famous that she was very conscious of the pay disparity between his work and hers. She defined that whereas she did not examine the numbers, she did really feel like they each deserved what they have been incomes.
“It wasn’t about comparing myself to him. Yes, I saw what he got paid,” Moore shared. “It was really more about: ‘Why shouldn’t I? If I’m doing the same amount of work, why shouldn’t I?’ And it’s no different than when I did the cover for Vanity Fair pregnant. I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, why women when they were pregnant needed to be hidden? Why is it that we have to deny that we had sex? That’s the fear, right, that if you show your belly, that means, ‘Oh, my gosh, you’ve had sex.'”
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Moore additionally spoke in regards to the Striptease backlash with Variety, calling it a “powerful” second for her. She reiterated that she felt like she'd “betrayed” ladies in every single place, however that the wage was “so powerful for me because it wasn’t just about me; it was about changing the playing field for all women. But because I was portraying a stripper, I betrayed women.”
“The narrative quickly became ‘Well, she’s only getting paid that number because she’s playing a stripper.’ It hit me really hard,” she revealed. “But at the same time, I understood that anybody who steps out first is going to take the hit. That goes for anybody challenging the status quo.”
