It’s been nearly two weeks since the team behind The Crown admitted that Claire Foy was paid less than co-star Matt Smith for her work on the show. “Going forward,” producer Suzanne Mackie promised at the time, “no one gets paid more than the queen.” But with sexism in the TV and film industries on everybody’s minds, it’s no surprise that a media frenzy erupted over news of a gendered wage gap on one of Netflix’s most popular, female-driven shows, and now, the Golden Globe–winning actress is finally addressing the controversy.
In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Foy said, “Anything that I’m at the center of like that is very very odd, and feels very very out of ordinary.” She added that she was “not surprised” that people were confused by the pay disparity, “in the sense that [The Crown is] a female-led drama.” Still, Foy seemed ambivalent over being at the center of the narrative: “I know that Matt feels the same that I do, that it’s odd to find yourself at the center [of a story] that you didn’t particularly ask for.”
However, she can understand why people have been so outraged by it.
She told Entertainment Weekly: “I’m surprised because I’m at the center of it, and anything that I’m at the center of like that is very, very odd, and feels very, very out of ordinary.
“But I’m not [surprised about the interest in the story] in the sense that it was a female-led drama.
“I’m not surprised that people saw [the story] and went, ‘Oh, that’s a bit odd.’ But I know that Matt feels the same that I do, that it’s odd to find yourself at the center [of a story] that you didn’t particularly ask for.”
