Demi Moore insists her $12.5 million salary for 'Striptease' wasn't about being compared to Bruce Willis.
Demi Moore insists her Striptease salary was about more than comparisons to Bruce Willis
The 61-year-old star became the highest paid female actor in the world with her huge payday for the 1996 movie, in which she appeared opposite her then-husband.
She told the New York Times newspaper's 'The Interview' podcast: "It wasn’t about comparing myself to him. Yes, I saw what he got paid.
“It was really more about: ‘Why shouldn’t I? If I’m doing the same amount of work, why shouldn’t I?’ "
She compared the situation to her famous Vanity Fair magazine cover, and called out the reaction to the photoshoot.
She added: "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.”
Demi explained how she felt a fierce backlash over her earnings for 'Striptease', as people "shamed" her for the role and her payday.
She said: "Well, with ‘Striptease,’ it was as if I had betrayed women, and with ‘G.I. Jane,’ it was as if I had betrayed men.
“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.”
Demi recently described landing the record-breaking salary as "so powerful", despite the criticism she came under.
She told Variety: "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.”
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