Christina Applegate reveals Will Ferrell and Adam McKay gave up part of Anchorman salary after she received ‘offensive’ offer

Christina Applegate has opened up about her life, health, and career move that offered her less than what she was ‘worth’.

The 54-year-old, who has been publicly battling multiple sclerosis (MS) since her diagnosis in 2021, recently released her tell-all memoir, You With The Sad Eyes.

The book delves into Applegate’s personal life, including being the child of a mother struggling with addiction, revealing she was ‘saved’ by acting, going on to suffer with anorexia as a teen, and an abusive relationship at the same time, before being diagnosed with breast cancer and then MS.

This week, the Dead To Me actress appeared on The View to talk about it all, with host Whoopi Goldberg calling the book ‘stunning’.

While Applegate revealed that it made her nervous to finally have it all public, with the memoir including journal entries from when she was just 10 years old, she said she needed to get everything out in the open – if only to help others going through the same thing.

Amid talks of her rising career as a teenager on Married… With Children, the hosts went on to bring up one of her best-known comedic roles, in Adam McKay’s first Anchorman movie.

The 2004 comedy film centers around a group of warring news anchors, with Will Ferrell taking the lead as Ron Burgundy.

Applegate played his love interest, Veronica Corningstone, who goes on to become his co-anchor.

However, the actress revealed that when the part was offered to her, the salary was well below what was expected, and less than her male co-stars.

“When they came in with the initial offer, it was, you know, a little offensive,” she noted. “And I said I can’t. I know my worth, and I can’t do that.”

Thankfully, Applegate explained ‘they wanted me bad enough’ that Will and Adam both took a pay cut and transferred the portion of their pay to her.

She said: “Thank God they did because it was one of the best experiences of my entire life.”

Opening up about the role, Applegate admitted: “It was such a lesson. I had never done improv before. Learning from that group of dudes… that is the masterclass that people pay for.

“Steve Carell, like, taught it. Adam McKay developed an entire new way of doing it with his group. To get in there and have that happen was absolutely magic and it’s been invaluable to me and my career.”

The movie was such a hit that nine years later they released a sequel, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues, with the original cast, including Carell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Fred Willard.

Elsewhere in her memoir, Applegate recalled the time she ditched Brad Pitt at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards.

The star explained: “I had to get there early to rehearse my appearance and Brad was kind enough to drive to my house to pick up my mom and Lori Depp and get them to the theater.”

But things seemingly changed after she crossed paths with heavy metal band Skid Row singer Sebastian Bach, whom she called a ‘long-haired hunk’.

“I felt so powerful and sure of myself for once that when the awards show was over, I left with Sebastian Bach, not Brad Pitt,” Applegate admitted. “I hate to put it like this, but Brad back then was still making his way as an actor, and he wasn’t yet THE Brad Pitt, the man of so many people’s dreams.”

Perhaps unsurprisingly, she claimed that Pitt ‘didn’t talk’ to her ‘for many years after that’.

Other celebrities who have given up their salary for their female co-stars?

Chadwick Boseman & Sienna Miller

When the two worked on the film 21 Bridges, Miller was offered less for her role, but Boseman had other plans.

“Everybody understands about the pay disparity in Hollywood, but I asked for a number that the studio wouldn’t get to.

“And Chadwick ended up donating some of his salary to get me to the number I had asked for.

“He said that that was what I deserved to be paid.”

Emma Stone

Although she didn’t say who, back in 2017 when she was promoting Billie Jean King biopic Battle of the Sexes, she said: “They do it for me because they feel it’s what right and what’s fair.

“If my male co-star, who has a higher quote than me but believes we are equal, takes a pay cut so that I can match him, that changes my quote in the future and changes my life.”

Will Smith and his King Richard co-stars

When WarnerMedia had made the decision to release King Richard in the movies and on streaming platform HBO Max simultaneously – which would lower the amount the cast would earn from the film playing in theatres – film lead and producer Will Smith paid his costar’s bonuses out of his own pocket. This included his onscreen daughters, Saniyya Sidney and Demi Singleton.