Demi Moore says she was “extremely shamed” for ‘Striptease’ salary

Posted On September 19, 2024September 19, 2024

The Substance star Demi Moore has reflect on her career, and the drama that surrounded her high salary for the 1996 movie, Striptease.

At the time, Moore was one of the biggest names in Hollywood, and due to her status, she was paid $12.5 million to star in the movie. While this figure wasn’t anything out of the ordinary compared with what many male actors were receiving for similar high-profile roles, Moore faced a backlash due to the size of the pay cheque.

Striptease marked the highest salary that a woman had received for a movie, which placed Moore in the firing line. Ultimately, her pay cheque became a bigger talking point than the film itself, and the message of the movie was lost amid the financial conversation.

“Well, with Striptease, it was as if I had betrayed women, and with G.I. Jane, it was as if I had betrayed men,” Moore admitted to the New York Times’ The Interview podcast.

While Moore’s career eventually recovered from the setbacks, she was persona-non-grata in Hollywood for a period following the back-to-back releases of Striptease and G.I. Jane with her high pay at the centre of the backlash.

She explained: “But I think the interesting piece is that when I became the highest-paid actress — why is it that, at that moment, the choice was to bring me down? I don’t take this personally.”

Moore then said that she believes any woman in Hollywood would have faced the same level of scrutiny for being the first to dismantle the gender pay gap, stating, “I think anyone who had been in the position that was the first to get that kind of equality of pay would probably have taken a hit. But because I did a film that was dealing with the world of stripping and the body, I was extremely shamed.”

As Moore was married to Bruce Willis, she had an insight into the kind of lucrative sums were being thrown at male stars in Hollywood. Therefore, she believed it was unfair that her pay didn’t align with other huge names.

Moore revealed: “It wasn’t about comparing myself to him. Yes, I saw what he got paid. It was really more about: ‘Why shouldn’t I? If I’m doing the same amount of work, why shouldn’t I?’ And it’s no different than when I did the cover for Vanity Fair pregnant. I didn’t understand why it was such a big deal, why women when they were pregnant needed to be hidden?”

The Substance

Close to 30 years on from the debate surrounding Moore’s pay for Striptease, her career is going as strong as ever thanks to her new movie, The Substance. The film, which won the award for ‘Best Screenplay’ at Cannes Film Festival, is set to arrive in cinemas on August 20th.

In a four star review, Far Out wrote: “Surrender is the only way. For people who can’t or won’t do that and will instead spend the whole time trying to analyse what Fargeat is trying to say rather than do, they’ll hate it. For those willing to steel their stomach and give into the twisted world of The Substance, it’s an astonishing film that won’t be forgotten.”

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