Universal Addresses Rumour That Ariana Grande Was Paid More Than Cynthia Erivo For ‘Wicked’
Rumours circulating on social media have alleged that Ariana Grande was paid $15 million (£12 million) to play Glinda in Wicked while Cynthia Erivo, who co-stars as Elphaba, only took home $1 million (£800,000). Universal Studios set the record straight to The Hollywood Reporter: the two leads of the film were paid the same.
A spokesperson said: ‘Reports of pay disparity between Cynthia and Ariana are completely false and based on internet fodder. The women received equal pay for their work on Wicked.’ The studio did not reveal the exact dollar figure. Multiple sources ‘familiar with the situation’ also confirmed to the outlet that Grande and Erivo had the same salary.
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THR noted that Wicked has had an incredible box office performance already. It has had the highest-grossing opening weekend of any Broadway musical adaptation ever in the UK, and also now holds the record for the biggest worldwide opening for a Broadway-based film. That even surpasses Les Misérables, which earned $103 million (£83 million) in its 2012 debut.
Erivo spoke to ELLE for the Women in Hollywood issue about acting alongside Grande. She was so much more than a coworker.
‘I’ve gained a sister,’ Erivo said. ‘At this point, we speak almost every day. Both of us were blown away by how connected we were immediately. I remember the first day we got to come together. It was at [director] Jon M. Chu’s house, and Stephen Schwartz [who wrote Wicked’s music and lyrics for both the OG Broadway musical and the film] was over. He played some songs for us, and we sang together for the first time. It worked. It’s a very intimate thing to sing with someone. There’s a really beautiful dance – I need to follow you, you have to follow me. It was one of the most gratifying things to know that there was someone who was that open and available, because she was, and that meant I could be as well.
‘We also had a beautiful relationship offscreen,’ she continued. ‘We had really beautiful conversations, some that were not easy, but that’s what makes relationships. Those hard conversations that you can have with someone that mean that you have to be vulnerable are the things that make you close.’
Read her full interview here.
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