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Emma Stone is the world's highest-paid actress—but her male co-stars still take pay cuts so she can have parity

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Hollywood's male stars make millions more than its A-list actresses
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Hollywood's male stars make millions more than its A-list actresses

The gender pay gap exists even in Hollywood.

According to Forbes, between June 1, 2016 and June 1, 2017, the world's 10 highest-paid actresses made a combined $172.5 million. The 10 highest-paid actors earned more than double that amount: $488.5 million.

The world's highest-paid actress, Oscar-winner Emma Stone, earned $26 million over the 12-month period. That's a sizeable paycheck, but it's still less than half the amount the highest-paid actor made: action star Mark Wahlberg, who topped the men's ranking, earned $68 million.

"Women, in general, are making four fifths at best," Stone says of the Hollywood gender pay gap in a conversation with tennis icon Billie Jean King for Out Magazine. The actress portrays King in the new movie "Battle of the Sexes," which details the historic 1973 showdown between her and Bobby Riggs.

Emma Stone and Billie Jean King during a press conference for "Battle of the Sexes"
Steven Ryan | Getty Images

"In my career so far, I've needed my male co-stars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them. And that's something they do for me because they feel it's what's right and fair," continues Stone. "That's something that's also not discussed, necessarily — that our getting equal pay is going to require people to selflessly say, 'That's what's fair.'"

Although some defenders of the system point out that the disparity could be chalked up to the fact that more men star in profitable action and superhero franchises, women often make less even in romantic comedies.

Natalie Portman, for example, says she was paid three times less than her male co-star Ashton Kutcher for the 2011 movie "No Strings Attached."

"I mean, we get paid a lot, so it's hard to complain," the star tells Marie Claire, "but the disparity is crazy."

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