Christian Slater has credited his wife Brittany Lopez for turning him into a vocal advocate for equal pay for women.
The actor previously gained a reputation during the ’90s for his hell-raising antics, which included arrests for drink-driving and carrying a loaded gun on to an aeroplane. But following the birth of his two children, son Jaden, and daughter Eliana with first wife Ryan Haddon, and his marriage to second wife Brittany, the 48-year-old has mellowed.
The True Romance star has been supportive of his former co-star Patricia Arquette’s stance on campaigning for equal pay for women. And in an interview with The Telegraph he admitted that it was second wife Brittany that made him see things differently.
When asked what changed his attitude he responded: “My wife! She definitely opened my eyes a lot to these kind of situations. I remember one of our earliest dates when this successful guy at the head of the table made a derogatory remark about women, everyone laughed but she didn’t.
“He looked at her and said: ‘Did you not think that was funny?’ and she said: ‘No, it was rude and derogatory and inappropriate.’ I remember thinking: ‘I love this woman so much, I cannot believe how brave and courageous she is.’”
The transformation in his personal life has coincided with an upswing in his professional life, as Slater is one of the stars of critically acclaimed USA Network series Mr. Robot, which landed him a best supporting actor Golden Globe in 2016.
Having gone through the Hollywood mill, the father-of-two insists he has learned to handle the ups and downs of the job.
“I’ve been doing this for so long now, gone through so many different phases, and right now I’m in a good-natured environment. I appreciate the people I work with, like Rami Malek (in Mr. Robot), so I don’t have to be insecure or neurotic or nervous,” he shrugged. “I have a life outside the business which I love, so for now I’m finding a nice balance of more contentment and less resentment.”
