Nina Dobrev is taking a bite out of her experience on “The Vampire Diaries.”
In Entertainment Weekly editor Samantha Highfill’s new book, “I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries,” the 36-year-old actress looked back on her decision to quit The CW series because she was getting paid less than her male co-stars, Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder.
“It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my work-load,” Dobrev, who also portrayed Elena Gilbert’s doppelgänger, Katherine Pierce, told Highfill.
“I had to be on set for double the amount of time, I had to memorize double the amount of lines,” she recalled. “I wanted to play Katherine, but I wanted to be compensated fairly for that, and I wanted to be an equal to the boys.”
Highfill wrote that Dobrev “was successful in getting more money,” but she was still making less than Wesley, 43, and Somerhalder, 46.
The author also claimed the studio told writers to stop including Katherine in scenes because they wouldn’t pay Dobrev for both roles.
“It got really heated,” recalled co-creator Julie Plec, “and so it basically got phone down back to us writers that we were not allowed to write Katherine in at all ever, which of course was not something that I felt was right or fair.”
Dobrev said she was hurt by the studio’s refusal to give her more money.
“They just said out of principle they wouldn’t bump me up to being equal to the boys, and so that was probably the most hurtful because it felt like I was really working hard, and I was putting my absolute heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears to it,” the actress said.
“I remember feeling like the studio didn’t appreciate what I was bringing to the show, and it felt like they were saying that all the hard work I was putting into it didn’t matter to them and that I wasn’t equal to my male counterparts, and so that was upsetting to me,” Dobrev added.
Dobrev ultimately decided not to renew her contract after Season 6 and left the vampire series in May 2015.
“When it was time to make that decision, I didn’t want to go, but I definitely didn’t want to stay somewhere I hadn’t been appreciated,” Dobrev said in the book.
Two years later, Dobrev came back for the series finale that aired in March 2017, but her return was complicated for everyone involved.
“It was just really important to me that at the end of the show, as a woman, I wanted to make sure that I was compensated and that I was an equal to my male counterparts on the show,” Dobrev said, claiming that the show’s opening offer for the one episode was “five times less” than what she made when she left in Season 6.
“That’s the only reason why at one point I almost didn’t come back. I needed to be paid parity to the boys,” the “Love Hard” star explained. “I had to put my foot down and say if it didn’t happen I wouldn’t be able to come back. And it wasn’t about the money — I didn’t give a sh-t about the money at all — it was the principle.”
Dobrev revealed that she initially declined the show’s offer to return, but after Plec “stepped in and put her foot down and spoke to everyone,” it was agreed that Dobrev would be in the series finale.
“For the fans I felt horrible and I wanted the story to be told in the best way possible, and it was heart-breaking that the artistry had to suffer because of this, that we didn’t get to maybe have the few episodes at the end of the show that Julie wanted,” Dobrev said.
Plec admitted she “was so sweating so hard” for weeks, worried that the deal for Dobrev’s return would fall apart.
“I’m very happy that we were able to make it work and that I came back,” Dobrev shared, “because I wanted to be part of the final goodbye.”
“I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries” is out now.
