‘I might get into trouble for saying this,’ says Priyanka about pay parity

Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas, who is gearing up for the release of her upcoming spy-action thriller series ‘Citadel’, has shared that for the first time in her 22 years’ career, she got equal pay with ‘Citadel’.

Recently at the inauguration of the South by Southwest Film Festival, the actress spoke with Amazon Studios head Jennifer Salke and shared her version with a bit of scepticism. “I might get into trouble for (saying this), depends on who’s watching,” she said, quoted by The Hollywood Reporter. “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.”

She continued: “But when I did Citadel, it was the first time in my career that I had pay parity. I’m laughing about this, but it’s kind of nuts, I put in the same amount of investment and work, but I get paid much less. 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’.”

‘Citadel’ is Prime Video’s upcoming big-budget, globe-trotting spy thriller produced by the Russo Brothers and showrunner David Weil, and stars Richard Madden along with Priyanka.

“And I wonder: Did that happen because there are very few female decision-makers in Hollywood? Would that have been a different conversation if a woman didn’t make that decision? Those are not conversations that happened very easily,” the actress concluded. Mumbai, March 11 (IANS)