Sean O'Pry is lots of things. Exceedingly handsome, spectacularly sculpted, oft-Googled, etc. -- your typical male model stuff. One thing he's not? Well paid. Well, according to
female model standards, anyway.
While the 24-year-old Georgia native has been featured in campaigns for Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani, Versace, Ralph Lauren (and every other designer you've ever heard of) and was the top-grossing male model of 2013 (according to
Forbes), his salary
paled in comparison to the #1 female on the list.
QUIZ: Is Your Guy a Metrosexual?
Ready for this? O'Pry, who was discovered at 17 on, of all things, MySpace, pulled in a respectable $1.5 million over the last 12 months, yet the top-earning female, Gisele Bündchen's haul was an astounding $42 mil. (Just to be fair, Miranda Kerr was #2 with $7.2 million so Gisele is clearly an anomaly.) Forbes did the math and, on average, women in the modeling biz pull in a whopping 148 percent more than their male counterparts.
But, we're not gloating (ok, maybe just a little) and we're certainly not complaining over the disparity in salaries -- it's nice that at least in one industry females command so much more than males -- but, what gives?
Former model Liza Elliott-Ramirez, the founder of Expecting Models Inc., told Daily Finance that female models have to do a lot more work. "Females models tend to generally have to pose more, wear more, sit in a hair and makeup chair for hours," she said. "If you have someone who has extremely curly hair, and they want straight hair, that's two hours. Men are just short hair; it's less to do. It's less work. It's a blessing and a curse."
And, the difference isn't lost on the guys, but most realize that they just have to roll with it. As David Gandy, who landed in the #2 spot on the Forbes list just below O'Pry with $1.4 million, says, "It's just a fact in this industry that the women earn more than the men. While the top female models fly first class or business class, the guys fly economy. I can't tell you the amount of long flights I've done with absolutely no sleep at all and then had to walk off a plane on to a shoot."
Sorry guys, sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles (*insert world's smallest violin) -- but, by all means, keep up the good work. We appreciate it. Really.
READ: When the Eating Disorder Outlasts the Modeling Career