Showtime Kills Off ‘The Affair’ Star Months After She Complains About Unequal Pay

Ruth Wilson’s run on “The Affair” has come to an abrupt and inglorious end, her character, Alison, one of the show’s four leads, killing herself off-screen Sunday night. The decision to kill off the Golden Globe-winning actress comes on the heels of Showtime’s decision to renew the show for a final season — and a few months after Wilson complained about getting paid less than a male counterpart on the show.

Showbiz 411‘s Roger Friedman pointed out the potential connection Monday and provided a quick flashback to Wilson’s comments during an interview on Radio Times back in February where she expressed her discontent about “definitely” being paid less than male co-star Dominic West.

“I definitely get less money than a male in my situation would. Definitely,” she told Radio Times. Asked specifically about being paid less than West, she said, “Yeah. I think so. Certainly when I signed up to that project, I would have got paid less. Then they [the producers] might argue, ‘Well, he’s already done a major American TV show [‘The Wire’] so he’s already got a level.’ But even after a Golden Globe I’m not going to be on parity.”

She then explained why she hasn’t brought up the issue to West: “It’s quite hard to bring that up in a way. But it needs to be an open discussion and men need to help us out,” she said.

Echoing a theme from other “Time’s Up” advocates, including Salma Hayek, Wilson added, “I don’t want more money, I just want equal money. Which means men have to take less.”

Friedman notes that while The Hollywood Reporter spoke to “The Affair” producer Sarah Treem about axing Wilson, “THR didn’t bother to ask Treem if that had anything to do with Wilson’s pay parity declaration– if Treem had decided to kill her off, or what happened.” Treem said only that Wilson asked to leave. Clearly, Wilson’s #TimeWasUp.

Related: Salma Hayek Says Something That Her Male Co-Stars Aren’t Going To Like