Brad Pitt is one of the most successful actors in the world. Not only has he starred in multiple award-winning movies, but the actor has made quite a fortune for himself thanks to his huge salary. However, while he made millions off of his roles, his co-star Taraji P. Henson, in their Oscar-winning movie The Curious Case of Benjamin Button made a humiliating low salary.
While her role was crucial, and bagged her an Oscar nomination as well, her significantly low salary in comparison with her co-stars shed light on the huge pay gap in the film industry.
Brad Pitt’s Oscar-Nominated Co-Star Was Paid Humiliating Lower Salary
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button received 13 Oscar nominations, bagging three, and was a grand blockbuster on the big screen. Even Taraji P. Henson received an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress, bringing her to the limelight even more so. Talking about it, the actress stated in an appearance on the Ladies First with Laura Brown Podcast,
“It wasn’t until ‘Benjamin Button’ actually because I had started making my way. You know, when you’re first starting you have to build up to a quote. So me and my tea, we had felt like we’d finally gotten to this place where I could ask for half a million! That’s all we were asking for. Couldn’t get it.”
But instead of $500,000, the actress was rather grossly underpaid. She just received a total of $150,000, which after paying taxes and her team, she just had a total of $40,000 left to take home. Meanwhile, her co-stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett took home millions.
“I don’t know exactly how much Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett…I’m sure they got whatever their quote, which was WAY more than what I would probably see in my lifetime because they not paying actors that much anymore… You don’t hear a lot of $20 million quotes anymore, but at this time that was happening.”
She added that even though she was paid very less, her co-stars deserved to get paid as much as they were paid.
Taraji P. Henson Had To Swallow Her Pride Because Of The Her Salary
Knowing that her co-stars were earning huge salaries must have been hard for the Empire actress. And hard it was but the actress did not feel bad that her co-stars were being paid more, stating that they deserved it. However, despite the understating, she had to swallow her pride when she was paid a fraction of her quote, just as she stated on the Ladies First with Laura Brown Podcast.
“They deserved that okay, because when this comes out people are coming because of Brad, and they’re going to discover me. I’m bringing a certain amount to the seat too and I felt like what I was asking at that time in my career was fair, was fair to the ticket sales that I would contribute to this big film. Wouldn’t do it. They did $100,000 is what they offered right away and then I was gutted. When it was all said and done I got $150,000, but I had to swallow my pride baby.”
Fortunately, the Oscar nomination and the acclaim that her role brought her played a significant role in helping her ask for a higher and better salary.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button can be streamed on Paramount Plus.
