Emmy Rossum has insisted her equal pay campaign wasn’t political – it was just fair.
The 31-year-old ‘Shameless’ star famously negotiated a salary equal to that of her male co-star William H. Macy for the latest season of the Showtime series, and has now said she was not doing it to make a political statement.
She told the New York Daily News: "It was a very private thing for a long time that I had been campaigning for and I didn’t think it was going to happen and then eventually it kind of leaked."
The ‘A Futile and Stupid Gesture’ star claimed she found it, "stressful and embarrassing", when her private salary negotiations made the headlines, but admitted that looking back, it was a good thing.
She said: "I knew that what we were asking for, it was quite simple, it was just the right thing. So I had a lot of conviction in that. That’s not to say that there weren’t moments along the very, very lengthy year-long discussion of the negotiation, that I didn’t waver, but I had people on my team, both men and women, who supported and reinforced that conviction and we held out."
And Emmy said her pay demands being made public had not changed the mood on set.
She said: "In the end we got what was right and I was incredibly overjoyed to return to an environment where I feel creatively inspired and where I feel other aspects of my talent are being nurtured,.
"Also it feels really good to be monetarily compensated in the way that is fair and right."
William, who plays her father in the hit show, came out in support of Emmy at the time.
The 67-year-old actor said: "She works as hard as I do. She deserves everything."
Emmy Rossum: Pay deal was not political, just fair
