Meryl Streep, Steven Spielberg and the other big spenders donating to #TimesUp
Hollywood went into 2018 with an assertive stand against sexual misconduct and assault with Time's Up, a campaign that is backed by hundreds of A-Listers.
Oscar-winning actresses Reese Witherspoon and Emma Stone were joined by Oscar-nominated director Ava Duvernay, TV production mogul Shonda Rhimes and Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins in supporting the campaign.
Time's Up aims to create a $13 million legal fund to help “less privileged women” who are the victims of sexual misconduct get justice, and has spread awareness with full-page advertisements in the New York Times and Spanish-language newspaper La Opinion which read: "Dear Sisters".
The campaign urges people from all walks of life to donate to the legal defence fund, but significant contributions have been made by some of Hollywood's most prominent power-players and institutions. Despite the women of Hollywood being subjected to a considerable gender pay gap – Stone, the industry's best-paid woman, earned $26 million in the year up to June 2017, less than 14 of the best-paid men; Mark Wahlberg made $68 million in the same period – the vast majority of named donors are women.
One of the few male donors is ET director Steven Spielberg, who donated $2 million through the Wunderkinder Foundation, which he maintains with his wife, actress Kate Capshaw. Star Wars director JJ Abrams and his wife Katie McGrath donated $1 million.
Meryl Streep, who was the target of a Hollywood smear campaign that claimed she had wilfully remained silent while working with disgraced film producer Harvey Weinstein – claims she vehemently denied – contributed $500,000, as did Rhimes, Witherspoon and Friends actress Jennifer Anniston.
Kathleen Kennedy, Star Wars producer and head of LucasFilm, donated $250,000, while pop star Taylor Swift, who won a symbolic dollar in a groping law suit this summer, added $100,000 to the fund, as did Oprah Winfrey.
A handful of actresses donated $50,000, including Emma Stone (under her birth name Emily), Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett and Jessica Chastain.
Oscar-winner Anne Hathaway, and actresses Blake Lively and Jessica Capshaw, known for her work on Grey's Anatomy, joined Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg in donating $25,000. Justin Timberlake and his wife Jessica (neé Biel) also donated $25,000. Scarlett Johansson donated $20,000.
British star Keira Knightley added $10,000 to the fund, as did Desperate Housewives actress Eva Longoria, Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, Jennifer Garner, Amy Poehler, Alicia Vikander, Kate Hudson, Julianne Moore and comedian Amy Schumer, who famously left a tip of $1,000 to the bar staff during a trip to see US musical Hamilton.
Maggie Gyllenhaal, Orange is the New Black's Laura Prepon and Uzo Aduba and Fifty Shades of Grey star Dakota Johnson donated $5,000, as did Emily Blunt and Courtney Love.
The Time's Up campaign has a $15 million crowdfunding goal and has, at the time of writing, raised $13.7 million through public donations. You can donate online here.
