NEWSDemi Moore Reflects on Breaking Hollywood’s Gender Pay Gap: 'I Earned It'
Demi Moore defended her record-breaking payday for 'Striptease.'
Oct. 5 2026, Published 6:31 p.m. ET
Demi Moore looked back on her record-setting role as the highest-paid actress in Hollywood thanks to 1996’s Striptease.
At Step Up’s 2026 Inspiration Awards in Los Angeles on September 26, the 63-year-old actress spoke out about the need for fairness rather than having to fight for what you're worth.
'Why Should I Not Get Equal to What I Deserve?'
Demi Moore said that standing up for herself helped net the record-breaking paycheck.
“I think language is really important. And I think when we look at something as a fight, I think againstness breeds againstness. So I don’t think that I was looking at it as fighting for something,” Moore told moderator Danielle Robay. “It was just simply asking the question of why not? Why should I not get equal to what I deserve? If I earned it, I shouldn’t just be given it to be given it.”
'The Choice Was to Bring Me Down'
Demi Moore noted that she received a lot of backlash for 'Striptease.'
Moore became the world’s highest-paid actress in 1996 when she received $12.5 million for Striptease, an exotic dancer comedy directed by Andrew Bergman, co-writer of Blazing Saddles. The paycheck received a great deal of criticism at the time. Moore and Bergman were dubiously honored as Worst Actress and Worst Director at that year’s Golden Raspberry Awards.
“Because I did a film that was dealing with the world of stripping and the body, I was extremely shamed,” Moore told The New York Times podcast "The Interview" in 2024. “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?”
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'I Don't Take This Personally'
Demi Moore said any woman who broke that record would probably attract the same amount of heat.
She added that the attention was probably inevitable.
“I don’t take this personally,” she insisted. “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.”
'It Was Taking a Stand Versus It Being a Fight'
Demi Moore received an Academy Award nomination for 'The Substance' in 2024.
Moore said her willingness to stand up for herself helped make that payday happen.
“Sometimes if we ask the right question, we’ll get the answer,” Moore explained to Robay. “But if we don’t ask the question, then we’re not going to be able to move the needle. So for me, it was taking a stand versus it being a fight.”
Her career recovered from the film, and in 2024, she received a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for her work as an aging celebrity in The Substance.
