Ellen Pompeo is officially the highest-paid woman on television, reeling in $20 million a year, but the actress reveals in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter that getting to this point was hard-fought.
Im 48 now, so Ive finally gotten to the place where Im OK asking for what I deserve, which is something that comes only with age, she told the publication. Because Im not the most relevant actress out there. I know thats the industry perception because Ive been this character [Meredith Grey] for 14 years. But the truth is, anybody can be good on a show season one and two. Can you be good 14 years later? Now, thats a fuckin skill.
Pompeo currently brings in $575,000 per episode for her starring role in Greys Anatomy, and her new contract also includes a seven-figure signing bonus and two full backend equity points on the series, which are estimated to add up to an additional $6 million to $7 million.
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The actress is also set to produce this springs Greys spinoff, as well as champion a legal drama shes hoping to put out through her production company, Calamity Jane. And on top of all that, Pompeo also recently sold an anthology drama to Amazon focusing on different American fashion designers.
According to Pompeo, being in the industry has shown that her path veers toward producing, and this revelation, coupled with the recent #MeToo and #TimesUp movements, has helped her to gain clarity in how and what to ask for.
In the last few weeks, a lot of us actresses in town have been having these meeting [as part of the Times Up initiative], she said. Weve been sharing stories and trying to figure out how we can promote change and use our voices to help other people. And Ill tell you, sitting in rooms full of Oscar-winning actresses listening to how theyve been preyed upon and assaulted is frightening. And it confirmed that my path really was the right one for me, because Ive chosen to financially empower myself so that I never have to be ducking predators and chasing trophies. Its not for everyone. You have to be more interested in business than you are in acting.
Part of what has helped Pompeo feel emboldened to make demands for her own career, she said, is getting an education here at Shondaland watching and learning from her friend and mentor, Greys creator Shonda Rimes.
In Shonda finding her power and becoming more comfortable with her power, she has empowered me, Pompeo said. And that took her a while to get to, too. It was part of her evolution. So, she got to a place where she was so empowered that she was generous with her power. Now, what did that look like? It looked like her letting me be the highest-paid woman on television, letting me be a producer on this show, letting me be a co-executive producer on the spinoff and signing off on the deal that the studio gave me, which is unprecedented.
Now, maybe its my Irish Catholic upbringing, but you never want to [be perceived as] too greedy, she continued. Or maybe its just that as women, thats our problem; a guy wouldnt have any problem asking for $600,000 an episode. And as women, were like, Oh, can I ask for that? Is that OK? Id call Shonda and say, Am I being greedy? But CAA compiled a list of stats for me, and Greys has generated nearly $3 billion for Disney. When your face and your voice have been part of something thats generated $3 billion for one of the biggest corporations in the world, you start to feel like, OK, maybe I do deserve a piece of this.'