Jennifer Lawrence: 'Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?'

Jennifer Lawrence might be the highest paid actress in Hollywood, but when it comes to her male co-stars she's still taking a back seat, heck she's riding in the next car.

According to Forbes, Robert Downey Jr made $111 million over the last 12 months versus highest-paid actress Jen, who made a reported $72 million. That's a $39 million difference.

While, she openly admits that her losing out on millions is hardly "relatable" to most, the fact that she is paid significantly less for the same work is the same form of discrimination faced by millions of women in the workforce around the world.

The 25-year-old actress has penned a powerful essay for pal Lena Dunham's feminist newsletter, Lenny, in which she discusses the gender pay gap in Hollywood which became vastly evident after the Sony email hack earlier this year.

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"When the Sony hack happened and I found out how much less I was being paid than the lucky people with dicks, I didn't get mad at Sony. I got mad at myself," she wrote of that fact that her and her American Hustle costars' contracts were leaked online..

"I failed as a negotiator because I gave up early. I didn't want to keep fighting over millions of dollars that, frankly, due to two franchises, I don't need. (I told you it wasn't relatable, don't hate me)."

"But if I'm honest with myself, I would be lying if I didn't say there was an element of wanting to be liked that influenced my decision to close the deal without a real fight," she continued.

"I didn't want to seem 'difficult' or 'spoiled.'"

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Jennifer Lawrence has penned a powerful essay for Lena Dunham's feminist newsletter, Lenny. Photo: Getty Images

"Are we socially conditioned to behave this way? We've only been able to vote for what, 90 years? … Could there still be a lingering habit of trying to express our opinions in a certain way that doesn't 'offend' or 'scare' men?"

JLaw admitted that she's done with worrying what people think of her and always trying to be 'likeable'.

"I'm over trying to find the 'adorable' way to state my opinion and still be likable! F**k that. I don't think I've ever worked for a man in charge who spent time contemplating what angle he should use to have his voice heard. It's just heard," she wrote. "Jeremy Renner, Christian Bale, and Bradley Cooper all fought and succeeded in negotiating powerful deals for themselves. If anything, I'm sure they were commended for being fierce and tactical, while I was busy worrying about coming across as a brat and not getting my fair share."

Jen also discussed the emails in which is was revealed Sony executives labelled Angelina Jolie a 'minimally talented spoiled brat'.

"Again, this might have NOTHING to do with my vagina, but I wasn't completely wrong when another leaked Sony email revealed a producer referring to a fellow lead actress in a negotiation as a 'spoiled brat.' For some reason, I just can't picture someone saying that about a man."

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