Despite having a buzzy career that boasts a hit TV shows and movies, the ex-beauty pageant winner is not exempt from getting paid “a lot less than the boys”.

“I’m still used to being paid — like most actresses around the world — a lot less than the boys,” she says. “We’re told we’re too provocative or that being sexy is our strength, which it can be, and it is, but that’s not the only thing we have.”

The South African beauty has proven herself to be an advocate for equal pay — not just with her words, but through her actions, too.

When details about her salary for the film Snow White and the Huntsman were released, it was uncovered that she had negotiated her pay to be closer to that of her male costar, Chris Hemsworth.

She received an increased salary and it was a win for gender equality overall.

The Oscar winner has previously spoke out about the gender pay gap in the film industry, and how some of her male costars have willingly helped bridge the gap.

“In my career so far, I’ve needed my male costars to take a pay cut so that I may have parity with them,” she said. “And that’s something they do for me because they feel it’s what’s right and fair.”

The HeForShe founder is a stringent supporter of gender equality across all facets of life.

In 2014, she gave a rousing speech at the United Nations to launch her gender equality initiative, speaking out about the demonization of the word “feminist,” the responsibility of both sexes to solve gender inequality and, of course, the importance of equal pay.

“I think it is right I am paid the same as my male counterparts,” she said.

She may be the first model of East Asian descent to walk the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, the first spokesmodel of East Asian descent for Estée Lauder and the first Asian model to ever make Forbes magazine’s annual list of highest-paid supermodels (she came in fifth!) but Liu Wen still finds that she gets sidelined because of her ethnicity.

“I hope that when people see Asian women, they realize we are all different. A lot of time with Caucasian people, they just group us together as Asian. But even within the different cities in China, people have different personalities,” she says.

“There’s no excuse,” says Jessica of the gender pay gap in Hollywood.

“There’s no reason why an actress should be doing a film with other actors and get paid less than her male costars. It’s completely unfair. It’s not right. It’s been happening for years and years and years. I think it’s brave to talk about it. I think everyone should talk about it.”

The actress sees the issue of wage inequality as “bigger than money” — it’s a whole system of discrimination. “I know we’re focused on the money part right now. That’s just a by-product,” says Sandra.

“I keep saying, ‘Why is it that no one is standing up and saying you can’t say that about a woman?’ We’re mocked and judged in the media and articles. Really, how men are described in articles versus women, there’s a big difference,” she laments.

Oprah is a longtime champion of equal pay — even when doing so could have cost the star her job as TV’s most iconic daytime talk show host.

“In the early days built this show around myself and the producers. We were young women in our 30s trying to figure it out and find our own way,” she says. “I was making a lot of money, and my producers were still getting the same salary. I went to my boss at the time and I said, ‘Everybody needs a raise.’ And he said, ‘Why?’ ”

She continued: “He actually said to me, ‘They’re only girls. They’re a bunch of girls. What do they need more money for?’ I go, ‘Well, either they’re gonna get raises, or I will not work unless they get paid.’ And so they did.”

The Black Swan actress recently revealed that she’d been paid one-third of what her costar Ashton Kutcher made for 2011’s No Strings Attached.

“Compared to men, in most professions, women make 80 cents to the dollar,” she explained. “In Hollywood, we are making 30 cents to the dollar.”

Earlier this year, the longtime E! News host was “informed and made aware that my male equivalent at the network who I started with the same year and have come up with doing essentially similar jobs, if not the same job, wasn’t just making a little bit more than me but was making double my salary and has been for several years.”

Although Catt was hopeful she’d be fairly compensated after she raised the issue, “they didn’t come close — nowhere close, not even remotely close.” This led the TV personality to make the decision to leave the network.