Grey’s Anatomy lead Ellen Pompeo, who takes on the role of Meredith Grey in the long-running ABC medical drama series, says that when she revealed her $20 million salary, it served as an “empowering story for women”.
Ellen Pompeo has starred as Meredith Grey for 14 season of Grey's Anatomy to-date / Credit: Hubert Boesl/FAMOUS
Speaking this week with Jimmy Kimmel, the actress thinks that it’s time women started asking for a wage that “a man would”, adding that when she went public with the huge amount of cash she’s raking in for her hard work, that it could help other women step up and demand more.
She explained: “I’m grateful that it was received in the way in which it was intended to be, which is as an empowering story for women. And to also be very honest about my faults, and my shortcomings because I think that there’s a lot of blame, especially right now.
“People are blaming people and there’s a lot of finger pointing but there’s less people owning up to their side of things. And I wanted to sort of do a truthful interview and talk about my road to my own empowerment and how I got there, but also mistakes that I’ve made along the way.”
Speaking more about how women can take their fate into their own hands, she posed the question: “How much of it isn’t given to us [women] or is it that we don’t ask?”
Pompeo continued: “And I think that as much as we can point the finger at other people, and say ‘You don’t give us’ or ‘You don’t treat us fairly,’ we also have to point the finger at ourselves and say, ‘Did we ask? Did we step up and have the gumption to ask for what a man would?’
“We have to own our part of it, and sometimes we’re too shy. We’re too afraid to be seen as difficult, to really speak our mind, so I’m grateful for all of it.”
Pompeo is currently starring in the 14th season of Grey’s Anatomy from creator Shonda Rhimes, and the television mogul recently expressed that she thinks the medical show will go on for as long as Pompeo wants it to. That’s an exciting prospect for fans, as we can’t imagine Pompeo getting tired of that chunky pay check any time soon…
You can check out a clip from the interview on Jimmy Kimmel Live! below:
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