Priyanka Chopra gets equal pay a second time with Love Again, says 'was both surprised and emotional'

Global icon Priyanka Chopra in a recent interview talked about getting equal pay, something she always opined for. The actor said that she was both surprised and emotional after getting offered the same remuneration as her male co-star Richard Madden in the television series Citadel.

Hyderabad: Priyanka Chopra was both surprised and emotional over getting paid equally with Richard Madden, her male co-star on the television series Citadel. The actor announced earlier this year that, after 20 years in the entertainment industry, she was now receiving equal compensation for all of her projects, starting with Citadel, a web series from Prime Video. The actor admitted that she was initially taken aback by the news that she would be paid equally with her male co-star Richard Madden on Citadel, but afterwards, as it gradually sank in, she felt moved.

She continued by saying that she had stopped thinking about it because she had initially dismissed the possibility of it occurring in her lifetime. "I was kind of extremely surprised, to be honest, because I had given up thinking or talking about it," Priyanka remarked in an interview. "The difference between what my male co-actors would receive and what I would receive, even if I were a co-lead, was just so great and different, I never even imagined it would happen in my lifetime," she added.

"My UTA agents said they wanted to try again to negotiate on my behalf and see if that was possible. After it was agreed, I pondered at the time if it was because Jennifer Salke, the head of Amazon Studios at the time, was a woman," the actor added.

"Do women in positions of power turn around and help other women and create new opportunities for other women? Yes, I believe so. I was therefore deeply moved. I felt as though I had shattered or pushed the glass ceiling a little bit both for myself and hopefully other performers," Priyanka quipped.

"I must admit that since Citadel I have been offered equal pay, including Love Again," she added. The now global icon made her acting debut with Thamizhan, a 2002 Tamil film starring Vijay. She made her Bollywood debut with The Hero: Love Story of a Spy (2003). In 2015, she relocated to the US after being chosen to play the series' lead role in the American drama Quantico. She then followed it up with the 2017 motion picture Baywatch starring Dwayne Johnson and Zac Efron.