Priyanka Chopra Jonas Talks Achieving Pay Equity On ‘Citadel’, A First In Her Career, And Tackling ‘Mean’ And ‘Nasty’ Hate

etcanada.com:

After more than two decades in the film industry, Priyanka Chopra Jonas has achieved pay parity. During a powerful conversation at the 2023 SXSW Festival on Friday, the actress opened up about how “Citadel”- the upcoming Prime Video spy thriller, in which she stars opposite of Richard Madden- is the first time she’s been paid the same as her male co-star. “I’ve been working in the entertainment industry for now 22 years, and I have done about almost 70-plus features and two TV shows,” Chopra Jonas told the audience and Amazon Studios’ Jennifer Salke, who joined her on stage. “But when I did ‘Citadel’, it was the first time in my career that I had pay parity.” Though she laughed about it on stage, the actress pointed out that it’s “kind of nuts.” READ MORE: ‘Citadel’: Richard Madden Tracks Down His Former Spy Partner Priyanka Chopra Jonas In An Exclusive Clip “I put in the same amount of investment and work, but I get paid much less,” she said. “But the ease in which Amazon Studios said, ‘That’s what you deserve, you are co-leads, that’s just fair,’ and I was like, ‘You’re right, it’s fair.’” “And I wonder: Did that happen because there are very few female decision-makers in Hollywood?”, the 40-year-old  added. “Would that have been a different conversation if a woman didn’t make that decision?

Those are not conversations that happened very easily.” Chopra Jonas previously spoke out about the “substantially large” pay gap in Bollywood, noting that she “would get paid about 10% of the salary of [her] male co-actor.” Elsewhere during her appearance at SXSW in Austin, Texas, the “Love Again” star chatted candidly about the criticism she’s experienced as a public figure, including body shaming. READ MORE: Priyanka