‘I was very upset’: Claire Foy admits she thought the pay gap with Matt Smith on The Crown was ‘heartbreaking’ and didn’t want it to ‘overshadow’ her experience on the show
Claire Foy has revealed that she found the fact that Matt Smith was paid more than she was in The Crown “really heartbreaking”.
The 38-year-old actress played the lead role of Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix show, while Matt, 40, played her husband Prince Philip.
An executive at Left Bank Pictures, the production company that makes The Crown, previously revealed that Claire was paid less than Matt for her work on the show.
speaking to The Guardianthe star insisted she didn’t know Matt earned more than she did until the executive went public with the news.
She said: ‘I wasn’t surprised. He was angry. Not like, boohoo, crying upset. I was very upset. I don’t think it would allow me [express anger]’.
Candid: Claire Foy has revealed she found the fact that Matt Smith was paid more than she was on The Crown ‘really heartbreaking’
Role: The actress, 38, played the lead role of Elizabeth II in the first two seasons of the Netflix show, while Matt, 40, played her husband Prince Philip.
‘Sometimes you see something, hear something, notice something, or something happens to you, and you just go, ‘Oh, God, what am I doing? Why am I doing it? Should I be a part of this?’ I found it really heartbreaking.
Claire said she found it “strange” to be at the center of the story when it first emerged and did not want to become a spokesperson for the gender pay gap issue.
The Women Talking star added that she still returned to the show for another season after the pay gap became known.
She explained: ‘We’re still talking about this no matter how many years pass. I know the extent of it. I still went back to the show. In any case, I didn’t want my experience with the show and what we all did on it to be overshadowed.
Claire said the pay gap row has had a positive impact overall, as people can no longer lie about what actors are paid.
Left Bank Pictures apologized to Claire and Matt at the time and claimed sole responsibility for the difference between their salaries.
Claire joked that her agent probably enjoyed coming back to the company later to discuss how much they would pay her for season two.
Elsewhere in the interview, Claire opened up about having a meltdown in the early days of her acting career as she struggled to deal with the instability in the industry.
She said: ‘I wasn’t surprised. He was angry. Not like, boohoo, crying upset. I was very upset. I don’t think it would allow me [express anger]’
Interview: Claire said she found it “strange” to be at the center of the story when it first emerged and that she did not want to become a spokesperson for the gender pay gap issue.
She moved from Stockport, Greater Manchester to London and quickly found acting jobs, but said she hardly ate or slept at the time because she wanted to work so much.
Claire previously told him GoalkeeperEdit that she was “deeply hurt” by the pay gap between her and co-star Matt.
He explained: “It hurt me deeply [the pay gap], because I had been working on that show for two years. I loved everyone in it.
‘And then I realized there was a big, fat, dirty secret that no one had ever talked about. Then there was that thing [of being] an involuntary spokesperson. Why did it have to be me?
She added: ‘You feel lucky to have a job. It’s so competitive. So, in that way, they trust the competitiveness and vulnerability of the actors to say: “They will accept it for 10 thousand less.”
I couldn’t have said anything. And I think everyone would have preferred that. But I thought, if I do that, I’ll be fooling myself and every other woman I know.’
Future: Claire said the pay gap row has had a positive impact overall as people can no longer lie about what actors are paid (pictured January 2023)