Patricia Arquette believes that the acceptance speech she gave at last year’s Oscars ceremony has cost her jobs in Hollywood.
After winning the best supporting actress award for Boyhood, she used her time on stage to highlight the importance of equal pay for women. She believes her words have had an impact on her career.
“I lost or ... walked away from [roles],” she said to Entertainment Tonight, while on the red carpet for this year’s Oscars. “I know that there was an issue with a couple of things, for sure, because I said something that made it very obvious. But it’s OK because I do believe in karma. And before I said it, I knew there was going to be some drama, because it would cost people money.”
While critics have hit back at well-paid female actors bemoaning the pay gap, Arquette reiterated that the issue goes beyond Hollywood. “There are 33 million women and kids that are living in poverty in America, with a full-time working mom,” she said. “We need to address this and we need to address this right away.”
During her 2015 acceptance speech, Arquette said it was “time to have wage equality once and for all, and equal rights for women in the United States of America”. Stars such as Jennifer Lawrence and Meryl Streep have since become involved in the debate over the gender pay gap. Since her role in Boyhood, Arquette has been leading the TV crime spin-off CSI: Cyber and will be voicing roles in both Toy Story 4 and an animated remake of cult horror Troll.
