{"id":6643,"date":"2026-06-10T17:47:36","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=6643"},"modified":"2026-06-10T17:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T17:47:36","slug":"meryl-streep-was-ready-to-retire-before-devil-wears-prada-2-so-she-demanded-double-the-salary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/?p=6643","title":{"rendered":"Meryl Streep was ready to retire before &#8216;Devil Wears Prada 2&#8217;\u2014so she demanded double the salary"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2152934272-e1781100022207.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Meryl Streep just gave a masterclass in knowing your worth. The three-time Oscar winner\u2014with an estimated net worth of $100 million\u2014says she was low-balled when the call came in 2006 to star as <em>The Devil Wears Prada\u2019s <\/em>high-powered, pouting, and feared editor-in-chief Miranda Priestly. And if the studio wouldn\u2019t budge, Streep had already decided she was ready to walk away from Hollywood for good.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>\u201cThey called me up, and they made an offer, and I said, \u2018No, not going to do it,\u201d Streep recalled in a recent interview with <em>Today<\/em><em>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p>After reading the script, Streep knew the film would land. She also knew she could earn more than they were offering. And she had nothing to lose: Already in her mid-50s with millions in the bank and two Oscars to her name, she was ready to walk away from acting entirely. So she turned down the job that a million girls would kill for.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew it was going to be a hit, and I wanted to see if I doubled my ask,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd they went right away and said, sure. And I thought, I\u2019m 50, 60\u2014it took me this long to understand that I could do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey needed me,\u201d Streep added. \u201cI felt I was ready to retire. But you know, it was a lesson.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It was indeed. The film went on to gross over $326 million worldwide, earn Streep her 14th Oscar nomination, and cement Miranda Priestly as one of cinema\u2019s most iconic characters. Its much-anticipated sequel, <em>The Devil Wears Prada 2<\/em>, which hit theatres last month, has already more than doubled that, grossing $660 million and counting.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>And instead of retiring, Streep went on to have the biggest chapter of her career, with <em>Mamma Mia!<\/em>, <em>Julie &amp; Julia<\/em>, and <em>The Iron Lady<\/em>\u2014the latter landing her a third Oscar.<\/p>\n<p>Today, Streep has starred in over 64 films, holds the record for the most Academy Award and Golden Globe nominations of any performer in history, and is widely considered one of the greatest actors in film history.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Streep isn\u2019t the only powerful woman who learned her worth later in life<\/h2>\n<p>Finance icon and self-made millionaire Suze Orman had her own version of the same reckoning. When a bidding war for her second book, <em>The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom<\/em>, hit $800,000 in the late 1990s, Orman told her literary agent to stop it there\u2014even as offers climbed toward a million and a half.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf somebody pays me that much money to write a book, I\u2019m gonna get sick to my stomach,\u201d she previously told <em>Fortune<\/em>. \u201cI don\u2019t want more than $800,000.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Looking back, the reason was simple: \u201cI didn\u2019t think I was worth it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Like Streep, Orman discovered her self-worth and reached new heights of career success after saying no\u2014to none other than Oprah Winfrey.\u00a0It all started in 1998 when she was offered a spot on <em>The Oprah Winfrey Show<\/em> to talk about the spiritual side of divorce. Orman felt strongly that this wasn\u2019t her area of expertise and became the first person ever to turn down the appearance, the producer told her.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, just months later, she went up against her publisher, Random House, over the title of her third book.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBreak my contract,\u201d She told her manager at the time. \u201cI refuse to write a book for them.\u201d In the end, Riverhead Books published the book <span style=\"box-sizing:border-box;margin:0px;padding:0px\">under her title of choice in 1999,\u00a0<em>The Courage to be Rich.<\/em>\u00a0It went on to become a\u00a0<em>New York Times<\/em>\u00a0bestseller, and Orman appeared<\/span> on <em>The Oprah Show<\/em> 29 times.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou know your worth when you know your own thoughts,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you keep asking everybody, \u2018What do you think?\u2019 and you\u2019re constantly looking outside for what other people think or their approval, you do not know your own worth.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Think you\u2019re worth more? Here\u2019s how to actually ask for it<\/h2>\n<p>For everyday workers, asking for a raise is a little more complicated than having a Hollywood epiphany and doubling your ask on the spot. But the underlying logic isn\u2019t so different.<\/p>\n<p>First, feelings won\u2019t cut it. \u201cAsking for a pay rise because you feel you work hard, deserve it, or are worth more money simply does not demonstrate why the company should further invest in you,\u201d Sophia Procter, a former blue-chip company manager, previously advised <em>Fortune<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>Start by looking at job adverts for similar roles and speaking with recruiters to find out what someone at your level should actually be earning.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Then, start noting down how your work has benefited the growth of your company, from positive client feedback to any sales you\u2019ve generated\u2014that\u2019s your leverage. From there, you can begin quantifying the value you bring to the organization.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Plus, Procter recommends adding $6,000-$19,000 to that figure\u2014the approximate cost for employers to find your replacement, depending on your level of experience. Suddenly, a pay rise starts to look like the cheaper option.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#Meryl #Streep #ready #retire #Devil #Wears #Prada #2so #demanded #double #salary<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Meryl Streep just gave a masterclass in knowing your worth. The three-time Oscar winner\u2014with an estimated net worth of $100 million\u2014says she was low-balled when the call came in 2006&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6644,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9065,2783,2376,424,426,2851,6727,9066,2318,2457,2782,5574,2780,9063,4334,27,290,2781,2320,2261,5984,208,8480,9064,7254,2319],"class_list":["post-6643","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-2so","tag-and-wellness","tag-career","tag-career-advice","tag-careers","tag-celebrities","tag-confidence","tag-demanded","tag-devil","tag-double","tag-fitness","tag-hollywood","tag-mental-health","tag-meryl","tag-millionaires","tag-money","tag-personal-finance","tag-personal-health","tag-prada","tag-ready","tag-retire","tag-retirement","tag-salary","tag-streep","tag-the-promotion-playbook","tag-wears"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6643","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6644"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}