Apart from being recognized as a bona fide celebrity, Jennifer Lawrence is known as a
financially literate movie star. But is she indeed?
Lawrence became the richest Hollywood actress when she was only 25 years old. Another thing
she gained by that moment is a very controversial reputation. It's not only about her drunk
appearances on talk shows, leaked nude photos, and #metoo-related scandals. It's also about
her weird financial values.
How come she regretted a $500 order of “Gummy Bears” but bought an $8 million house within
one year? Who is Jennifer's alter ego? Does her another self have something to do with
all the situations when known-to-be-frugal Lawrence was unaccountably splurging money?
How did the "Hunger Games" star become the most well-paid actress in Hollywood, and why
did she put her career on hold afterward?
We have the answers to these questions. Keep watching the video and subscribe to "Rumour
Juice" YouTube channel for other exciting celebrity stories.
Back in 2014, Jennifer Lawrence was recognized as an "unspoiled starlet". In the interview
with "Fabulous", the actress explained that she credits her mother and father for instilling
her financial values.
"I was raised to have value for money, to have respect for money, even though you have
a lot of it. My family is not the kind of family that would ever let me turn into an
a**hole or anything like that, so I am fortunate to have them."
According to "Forbes," Jennifer's net worth in 2014 was $34 million. The media admirably
talked about the actress living in a comparatively small Santa Monica apartment, avoiding personal
assistants and clipping all the coupons by herself. Also, it took years for Lawrence
to replace her old Volkswagen with a new Chevrolet Volt. And still, the new car cost $39,000
only – unlike all the "Bugatti" kind of cars young Hollywood actors tend to buy. Frugality
was so ingrained in her lifestyle that Jennifer even admitted once that she regretted a 500$
order of Gummy Bears while hanging out with Lenny Kravitz. Well, she exaggerated, apparently,
but maybe all the talks about her humbleness were also… A bit exaggerated?
At the end of 2014, Lawrence paid $8 million for a 5,500 square foot house in Beverly Hills.
The home previously belonged to Ellen DeGeneres and Jessica Simpson. Besides, Jennifer wore
a 100-carat diamond necklace worth $2 million at the 2014 Oscars. Diamonds are a girl's
best friend, right? Except that now the "Hunger Games" star's financial values seem pretty
controversial. And still, such pricey accommodation and jewelry was just a drop in the ocean for
her. In less than a year, Jennifer Lawrence became Hollywood's richest actress.
A rapid salary growth wasn't new for the actress at all. Lawrence's net worth has been increasing
at a meteoric pace since her career started blooming in 2010. At first, she was only paid
a Hollywood bare minimum for her role in 2010's "Winter's Bone". She received an Oscar nomination
for that film, and later on she had a successful part in the 2011 “X-Men: First Class”.
Therefore, her average salary was expected to increase afterward. However, for the first
“Hunger Games” installment she got a modest $500,000 payout. Upon the film release, a
"Business Insider" correspondent said the following:
"Seeing as the movie has surely beaten any and all goals… We expect Lawrence should
be receiving her payout".
Excellent point, "Business Insider"! But did Jennifer Lawrence, still a rising star at
the time, expect to receive recognition and impressive payouts? Let's figure out.
Jennifer was born in a middle-class family in Kentucky. In her teenage years, the future
actress experienced hyperactivity and social anxiety. She considered herself a misfit among
her peers, but all her troubles vanished when she started performing on stage. In other
words, acting gave her a sense of accomplishment. Jennifer was only fourteen when she was spotted
on the street by a talent scout who encouraged her to audition for talent agents. After Lawrence's
first cold reading, the agents said that hers was the best they had heard from someone that
young. It could have been such an excellent start of her career… But Lawrence's mother
convinced her the agents were lying.
"My parents were the exact opposite of stage parents. They did everything in their power
to keep it from happening. But it was going to happen no matter what. I never considered
that I wouldn't be successful."
Okay, it explains a lot. “Successful” doesn’t equal “famous” though. Jennifer
also revealed she wanted to be successful in general, and not necessarily in acting.
Apparently, real-life Lawrence is as purposeful and adamant as her "Hunger Games" character
Katniss Everdeen. By the way, that role was the one to have placed the actress on the
fast track of the world's highest-paid actresses. For the first "Hunger Games" sequel, "Catching
Fire", she earned $10 million, plus bonuses and escalators. From there on, all the comments
about Lawrence's "underrated work" were played out.
In 2015 the 25-year-old Jennifer earned $52 million, and with such an income, she became
the world's highest-paid actress. According to "Forbes", the bulk of her earnings came
from the final part of "Hunger Games” and her upfront fee from the sci-fi movie "Passengers".
Jennifer also made headlines in 2015 by writing an article for online feminist portal “Lenny
Letter” about gender pay gap. The text was titled "Why Do I Make Less Than My Male Co-Stars?".
It was about how Lawrence and other women don't always negotiate for higher pay because
they don't want to seem "difficult". Lawrence mentioned that every man she was working with
definitely didn't worry about being "difficult" or "spoiled". She had her point: Robert Downey
Jr., who was recognized as the richest actor of 2015, made $80 million that year, against
Lawrence's $52 million.
Even though Lawrence's 2016 earnings decreased to $46 million, she remained the world's highest-paid
actress for the second year in a row. That year she dropped $15.6 million on a sprawling
penthouse in New York's Upper East Side. It's definitely not a typical dwelling environment
for the twentysomethings! And doesn't have much to do with frugality… However, another
decent part of the actresses' expenses was charity. In 2015 she launched the "Jennifer
Lawrence Foundation" with the mission to advocate for the "Boys & Girls Clubs of America" and
the "Special Olympics." In 2016, Lawrence donated an extra $2 million to a children's
charity in Kentucky.
Despite being recognized as the richest actress, Jennifer kept working hard.
Eventually, though, she limited the time spent on set and the number of projects she was
working on. And it wasn't something like "one well-paid role in a year". In fact, Lawrence
wasn't even paid that well for her next projects.
In 2017 Jennifer only participated in one mainstream film, "Red Sparrow", and got pre-pay
for her other upcoming film, "Mother!". Could you imagine the movie had a total budget of
only $13 million? It's much less than what Lawrence was paid upfront for the last installment
of the "Hunger Games" franchise. How could she agree on such a bargain? Does it have
something to do with the fact that the movie director Darren Aronofsky was her boyfriend
at the time? It probably does.
Despite the 22-year age difference, the Lawrence-Aronofsky romance was fuelled by radiant energy – both
professional and personal.
"I've been in relationships before where I am just confused. And I'm never confused with
him."
Despite the Oscar-winner gushing over her brilliant boyfriend, it seems their movie
with its poor reviews and box office also took a toll on the two's relationship.
"I was doing a double duty trying to be a supportive partner while also being like,
'Can I please, for the love of God, not think about 'Mother!' for one second?'"
It sounds like both the relationship and the project that started so fabulously ended up
being nothing but pressure. By the way, did you know that an actor's salary depends on
the backend pay? It means that box-office success can either make or break a performer's
salary. For Jennifer, "Mother!" was definitely a break. A break that, directly or not, led
to a breakup: Lawrence and Aronofsky split at the end of 2017.
At the time, property gossip columns went wild when Lawrence reportedly paid a bit more
than $9 million for a loft-style condo in a celebrity-packed Tribeca building. Curiously
enough, the actresses' new property soon popped up as a luxury apartment for rent at $27,500
per month.
As of 2018, Jennifer had an estimated net worth of $120 million. And still, most of
it was from the "Hunger Games" franchise.
In February 2018, the Oscar-winner announced she would be taking a year off from acting.
The fans expected her to elaborate on such a decision
when she appeared on “The Ellen Show” shortly afterward. Well, she didn’t… But
she opened up about her “mysterious” alter-ego instead.
Do you love her unpredictability as much as we do? Anyway, rumours swirled that Lawrence
quit acting after getting engaged to Cooke Maroney, but it couldn't be true. She started
dating Cooke in June 2018, which is eight months after the actress put her career on
hold. After the two got together, the actress started spending more time in New York than
in LA. No wonder why: Cooke Maroney is officially New York-based. He's the director of an art
gallery on the Upper East Side. The couple was spotted apartment-hunting, which might
sound ridiculous because only Jennifer herself already had two housing properties in New
York. However, in July 2019, Lawrence put her penthouse condo up for sale. She lowered
the original price to $14.25 million, and in January 2020, it went down to $12 million.
Jennifer Lawrence's net worth in 2020 is estimated at $130 million. Now that we know what she
was spending her money on within the last six years, let's come back to the 2014 "Inquirer"
article:
"The actress isn't an older star who learned financial management after years of money
problems. She's also not a ticking time bomb like the Lindsey Lohans of the world. She's
someone who can afford the best, but chooses to spend only enough to get by."
Well, maybe a couple of pricey apartments and diamond necklaces is a little bit more
than "getting by", but does being humble mean you should not buy luxurious things that you
earned and can afford? It was not a coincidence but her hard work and a sense of purpose that
helped her to become one of the richest Hollywood actresses while still in her twenties. Don't
you think Jennifer deserves to spend her money on whatever she considers necessary?