Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Claire Foy of ‘The Crown’ To Receive $275K In Back Pay For Gender Pay Gap

On the wildly popular television show “The Crown,” Claire Foy portrays Queen Elizabeth II. Matt Smith plays her husband, Prince Philip. The titular “crown” refers to the one worn on Claire Foy’s head. And yet, Claire Foy makes less money per episode than Matt Smith. Put that in your pipe and smoke it and get high on dreams of equality. And then make those dreams happen, as Claire Foy did. It was announced today that Foy will be paid a difference of $275,000 for the wages she lost because of the gap between herself and Smith.

At a conference in Jerusalem back in March, “Crown” producers were asked which lead makes more money, and admitted that the answer is Smith, citing his high profile role in “Doctor Who” compared to Foy’s relative lack of experience. “Going forward, no one gets paid more than the Queen,” a producer announced in response to the question, obviously hoping to head off headlines like this one. The producer did not acknowledge that the show, which was created by Jewish writer Peter Morgan, who also serves as an executive producer, continued to underpay Foy in the second season of the series, even once Foy had won a Golden Globe and a SAG award for her role and blossomed to international stardom while Smith received zero major nominations.

Foy, for her part, has cheerfully shouldered the responsibilities that come with being at the center of a gender pay gap controversy. At a panel in Hollywood on Friday alongside Morgan, Foy said that the episode taught “to feel you can be your own advocate, and you can make a point, and you can say something without it being you being ‘difficult.” She added, “If I don’t speak up and support myself, then no one else can.”

Jenny Singer is a writer for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.