Emmy Rossum says she was doing “what felt right” when fighting for equal pay on Shameless
The Angelyne actor discusses her exit from the Showtime series and her upcoming show on the 1980s LA icon in a new interview
Aux News Shameless
Way back in 2018, Emmy Rossum made a shocking announcement to Shameless fans: The ninth season would be her last time playing the series lead, Fiona Gallagher. This came after the actor had won a contract negotiation battle for higher salary, which presumably ensured regular viewers that she would be on the Showtime favorite for a bit longer. In a new interview, Rossum revisits her fight for wage parity on Shameless, and her decision to leave the series for her upcoming dream project, Peacock’s Angelyne.
“I certainly was never trying to make any kind of grand political statement,” Rossum tells The Hollywood Reporter after being asked about her contract negotiations on Shameless.
“I was only trying to do what felt right,” she continues. “The idea of not continuing on Shameless was not one I ever wanted to entertain. So when it all worked out, I was thrilled—thrilled my small victory was part of a much larger tide. But my story is not unique. It was just public. Wage disparity becomes even more pronounced when you factor in age, race, body size, and orientation.”
After the contract negotiations were completed, Rossum would continue appearing in Shameless until its ninth season, before ultimately departing and heading for other creative pastures. Though she left the long-running series before its finale in 2021, THR says Rossum holds “no regrets” about her decision, as she was “anxious for new material.”
And that “new material” came in the form of her reading THR’s 2017 exposé about the real identity of Angelyne, the mysterious 1980s billboard queen. Rossum and her husband/collaborator Sam Esmail decided to option the story, and it’s what lead to her announcing her “impending Shameless exit,” as THR writes.
The miniseries Angelyne is Rossum’s initial project under her first-look deal with Universal Content Productions, and Rossum will play the titular blonde bombshell.
Angelyne premieres on Peacock on May 19.
20 Comments
Good for her. People need to start doing what’s best for themselves. Get paid, make that shmoney.
I like you.
EMMA KENNEY TELLS ET HOW SHE WOULD JUST TAKE MONEY OUT OF WILLIAM H. MACY’S WALLET TO SUBSIDISE HER UNEQUAL PAY ON SHAMELESS: “HIS WALLET SAYS ‘BAD MUTHAFUCKA’ ON IT”
Curious why there’d be a wage disparity for her. She was the main protagonist, I’d hope hers was the highest
But William H. Macy was the big name initially used to promote the show and also the family patriarch. (Not saying she didn’t deserve it)
Not like I have a clue how SAG works and the industry pay, but even though he’s the bigger name, the show is through Fiona’s eyes.
I don’t think you need to know how SAG works to assume that at the very least, in season one, William H. Macy would have made more than the (at the time) unknown actress playing the series lead.
I agree that William H. Macy was better known, but Emmy Rossum was not an unknown actress when Shameless started. She’d been acting for over a decade and was the female lead in Phantom of the Opera, The Day After Tomorrow, and Dragonball Evolution.
Emmy Rossum was pretty famous in the early 2000s. She made a string of blockbusters, they just mostly ended up sucking. (The Day After Tomorrow, Phantom of the Opera, Poseidan, Dragonball Evolution)
Point well taken. “Relative unknown,” then… I do think Macy was substantially better known.
Kind of. She’s definitely a central character but there are plenty of plots that happen without her and in later seasons, the younger siblings all have their own things going on. To me it’s more of an ensemble cast and Macy was the biggest star when the show started, Rossum became the bigger star as it went on.
William H. Macy, as AgreetoAgree said, is (or was) a much bigger name.So yes, a lot more work was done by the rest of the cast, but they’re not big name actors.
I feel like im missing something here. She wanted a raise, she got it, and quit anyway?
She quit later on.
yeah, i got that later, maybe i just read it too fast
It was…not well-written, and meant to draw the misleading conclusion you drew.Helluva Job, G/o Media!
She wanted a pay raise, got it, stayed for a good long while because of it. Then after the ninth season, she left the show for reasons that had absolutely nothing to do with the wage parity stuff. The article’s confusing because it’s trying to force those things together in really weird way.
“ The article’s confusing because it’s trying to force those things together in really weird way.”—TheAVClub
No, the raise only went through Season 8 — my guess is that Showtime either hoped to coerce her into taking less money for the final season, or that she’d quit and they could drag her name through the mud because she’s a woman… as they did.
I too, was doing what felt right.