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

Claire Foy and Matt Smith, staring into the future Image by Getty Images

By Jenny Singer April 30, 2018

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 Singer@forward.com or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

The coming year promises to be filled with more complex and historic developments. We are entering an era where independent, fact-based Jewish journalism will be more important than ever. We need to be ready for whatever 2025 will bring, and with your help, we can be.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO