【Emmanuelle – The Sex Lives Of Ghosts (2004)】

Most actors don't like to discuss what they get paid for any given project,Emmanuelle – The Sex Lives Of Ghosts (2004) but Ellen Pompeo isn't afraid to flaunt the fact that she's finally getting what she deserves after so many years of kicking ass on TV.

In a candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter, long-time Grey's Anatomystar Ellen Pompeo opened up about her 14-year tenure on one of the most successful primetime dramas on television, her fight to get paid as much as a star should get paid, and female empowerment.

Pompeo signed on for two more seasons of Grey's Anatomy in her role of Meredith Grey, and with that deal she became the highest-paid actress on a primetime drama series, with a contract earning her about $20 milliona year. But it took her a long time to not only work up the courage to ask for that kind of compensation but to reach an agreement on it.

She acknowledged that kind of thing takes time, but it's important to recognize what you bring to any given project:

I'm 48 now, so I've finally gotten to the place where I'm OK asking for what I deserve, which is something that comes only with age. Because I'm not the most "relevant" actress out there. I know that's the industry perception because I've been this character for 14 years. But the truth is, anybody can be good on a show season one and two. Can you be good 14 years later? Now, that's a fuckin' skill.

At one point, Pompeo asked to get paid more than co-star Patrick Dempsey, who left the show in 2015. Pompeo played the namesake of the show, after all, but at the time her request wasn't met with approval.

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Pompeo said she got her inspiration to negotiate for a higher salary from the show's creator, Shonda Rhimes, who has rocketed in popularity as a show creator and all-around powerhouse since Grey's Anatomy's debut in 2005.

In Shonda finding her power and becoming more comfortable with her power, she has empowered me. And that took her a while to get to, too. It was part of her evolution. It's also why our relationship is so special. I was always loyal to her, and she responds well to loyalty. So, she got to a place where she was so empowered that she was generous with her power. Now, what did that look like? It looked like her letting me be the highest-paid woman on television, letting me be a producer on this show, letting me be a co-executive producer on the spinoff and signing off on the deal that the studio gave me, which is unprecedented.

Pompeo also had to overcome the fact that she didn't want to appear greedy — her upbringing as an Irish Catholic and a woman made her a little more reticent, she said.

Now, maybe it's my Irish Catholic upbringing, but you never want to [be perceived as] too greedy. Or maybe it's just that as women, that's our problem; a guy wouldn't have any problem asking for $600,000 an episode. And as women, we're like, "Oh, can I ask for that? Is that OK?" I'd call Shonda and say, "Am I being greedy?" But CAA compiled a list of stats for me, and Grey's has generated nearly $3 billion for Disney. When your face and your voice have been part of something that's generated $3 billion for one of the biggest corporations in the world, you start to feel like, "OK, maybe I do deserve a piece of this."

Pompeo's courage and bluntness has inspired support on social media and encouraged women to ask for what they deserve when it comes to their own salaries.

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The interview ended on a high note, saying that there should be more women in power, and she's glad her young daughter gets to come to the set of Grey'sand see powerful women running the show.

I should also say this: I don't believe the only solution is more women in power, because power corrupts. It's not necessarily a man or a woman thing. But there shouldbe more of us women in power, and not just on Shonda Rhimes' sets. Look, I only have a 12th-grade education and I wasn't a great student, but I've gotten an education here at Shondaland. And now my 8-year-old daughter gets to come here and see fierce females in charge. She loves to sit in the director's chair with the headphones on yelling "Action" and "Cut." She's growing up in an environment where she's completely comfortable with power. I don't know any other environment in Hollywood where I could provide that for her. Now I hope that changes … and soon.

Read the whole amazing essay over at The Hollywood Reporter.