‘First time I got equal pay in 22 years’: Priyanka Chopra on pay parity with ‘Citadel’ co-star

A-list actor Priyanka Chopra revealed she had pay parity for the first time in her career span of 22 years with ‘Citadel’.

During a conversation with Amazon Studios’ head Jennifer Salke at the Southwest Film Festival, Chopra candidly spoke about the pay parity in the showbiz industry.

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“I might get into trouble for [saying this], depends on who’s watching. [But] I’ve been working in the entertainment industry for now 22 years, and I have done about almost 70-plus features and two TV shows. But when I did Citadel, it was the first time in my career that I had pay parity,” the ‘Matrix’ actor shared.

“I’m laughing about this, but it’s kind of nuts.” She continued to explain, “I put in the same amount of investment and work, but I get paid much less. But the ease in which Amazon Studios said, ‘That’s what you deserve, you are co-leads, that’s just fair,’ and I was like, ‘You’re right, it’s fair’.”

“And I wonder: Did that happen because there are very few female decision-makers in Hollywood? Would that have been a different conversation if a woman didn’t make that decision? Those are not conversations that happened very easily,” Chopra added, to which, Salke replied that she can’t speak to what would have happened if she wasn’t in charge, yet praised her executive team. Salke also mentioned that she has ‘great male and female allies’ at her company.

About the show, the first-to-launch series in the ‘Citadel’ universe of Russo Brothers stars Priyanka Chopra and Richard Madden as agents Nadia Sinh and Mason Kane, along with Stanley Tucci, Lesley Manville, Osy Ikhile and Ashleigh Cummings.

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The six-episode first season of the series will premiere on the streaming platform, Amazon Prime Video on April 28 with the first two episodes.

The official trailer of ‘Citadel’ was released earlier this week.