X-Files star David Duchovny on unequal pay: ‘Hollywood payment is not fair’

Duchnovy's comments come after his X-Files co-star Gillian Anderson was offered half his salary

David Duchovny has criticised Hollywood over the unequal pay offered to his X-Files co-star Gillian Anderson, following the revival of the cult TV series.

The X-Files returned earlier this year, revived for six episode mini-series that creator Chris Carter has called ‘like the old days’. Anderson, however, had to battle for an equal pay offer in advance of filming.

Backing his co-stars comments in the pay situation, Duchovny told The Guardian:

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“I’ve done everything I can to help that whenever I could. I think we should be paid the same to do The X-Files. You can ask Gillian. She knows that I have always wanted us to be paid the same, for as long as I’ve known there was a discrepancy.

“Hollywood payment is not fair,” he continued, “and it doesn’t always parcel on gender lines or race lines, or anything like that.”

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Anderson revealed the unequal pay offer (which she rejected, and later gained the same rate as Duchovny) in interviews around the launch of the new series, telling The Daily Beast:

“I’m surprised that more [interviewers] haven’t brought that up because it’s the truth. Especially in this climate of women talking about the reality of [unequal pay] in this business, I think it’s important that it gets heard and voiced.It was shocking to me, given all the work that I had done in the past to get us to be paid fairly. I worked really hard toward that and finally got somewhere with it.”

The actress continued: “Even in interviews in the last few years, people have said to me, ‘I can’t believe that happened, how did you feel about it, that is insane.’ And my response always was, ‘That was then, this is now.’ And then it happened again! I don’t even know what to say about it.”

Anderson concluded by saying of her lower pay offer: “It is… sad. It is sad.”

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