Emmy Rossum has revealed that her years-long battle for equal pay in Shameless It was only resolved because news of the dispute was leaked to the public, and even then, the turnaround was surprising.
speaking in calls his daddy With host Alex Cooper, Rossum described how a pay default that had dragged on for more than five years was resolved in a single day once the story became public in late 2016.
“I was at a writers’ retreat and I was procrastinating, and I opened Twitter and there was a headline saying we were at a stalemate, and I was shocked,” she said.
“It is a private business negotiation and I never imagined it would become public.”
Within hours, the tide had turned.
“People seemed to write other articles, immediately commenting on it, being quite surprised that they didn’t pay me the same. And it was resolved in one day. I was surprised and, frankly, very surprised that we actually got it done.”
Rossum played Fiona Gallagher, the fiercely capable older Gallagher sister, for all 11 seasons of Showtime. Shameless from 2011 to 2021.
William H. Macy was the top name when the show began, and Rossum acknowledged that his higher salary “made a lot of sense” at first given his relative inexperience in television.
But Fiona quickly became the show’s breakout character, and Rossum emerged as Macy’s clear co-star; in many episodes, he had more screen time than his character Frank.
His first attempt at renegotiation came before the third season, when his team felt the evidence of his contribution was strong enough to make the case.
It was denied.
“We didn’t make it… and that’s okay. We tried and we didn’t make it,” he said, adding with characteristic pragmatism: “It’s always scary to ask for what you think you’re worth. It’s your job to make the program as little as possible to make the most profit. That’s any business.”
The request before the eighth season also “was closed pretty quickly,” leaving the situation at an impasse that Rossum wasn’t sure would ever be resolved.
Then the leak happened and everything changed.
Macy had publicly supported her co-star throughout. he said TMZ By the time it was “about time,” she received the same salary, adding, “She works just as hard as I do. She deserves it all.”
At Vulture Fest in 2017 he was equally blunt: “Who’s the center of the show? It’s Fiona. Of course she should get paid.”
Rossum returned for seasons eight and nine before leaving to focus on his own projects, including the development of Peacock. angelina and establish a production company.
He was clear that his departure had nothing to do with lingering resentment.
“I just want to remain professional and my focus is never on money, but on what is fair and right,” he told Cooper.
“It was really about being valued equally when doing the same work. For me, it was as simple as that. I was very, very happy when we got it, and very, very happy for what it apparently did for other women.”
