Nina Dobrev has recently made shocking revelation about pay parity battle against her male co-leads of The Vampire Diaries.
The actress opened up that she got paid less than her male stars in a new interview for Samantha Highfill’s I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries.
Nina, who starred opposite Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder on the CW supernatural teen drama for the first six seasons, said, “Candice King, Kat Graham and I were the three lowest-paid series regulars in the first two seasons.”
“It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my workload,” explained the 36-year-old.
Interestingly, Nina recalled she had to be on set for double the amount of time.
“I had to memorise double the number of lines. I wanted to play Katherine, but I wanted to be compensated fairly for that, and I wanted to be an equal to the boys,” pointed out the Redeeming Love actress.
Nina mentioned that she tried to negotiate a higher salary but she never got paid the same as her male co-stars.
“I remember feeling like the studio didn’t appreciate what I was bringing to the show and they believe I wasn’t an equal to my male counterparts, and so that was upsetting to me,” recounted The Out-Laws actress.
Therefore, Nina shared that she left the show after six seasons but she returned for the eighth and final season.
The actress stated that it was her second time and it wasn’t about the actual dollar amount, it was about being an equal.
The studios at the time didn’t want to give it to me as they offered me “five times less” than what she previously made in the last seasons.
Nina disclosed that she politely declined the offer, saying, “I needed to be paid parity to the boys. I had to put my foot down and say if it didn’t happen, I wouldn’t be able to come back.”
Nina further said, “It wasn’t about the money… It was about the principle.”
Meanwhile, the show co-creator Julie Plec added that it was at this time she stepped in for Nina and eventually the studios agreed to pay for one episode at the actress’s requested rate.
