Catt Sadler Is OK With Becoming a Symbol for the Wage Gap Fight

Back in December, Catt Sadler left E! News when she found out her male co-hosts earned more than her—and her bosses weren't willing to shore things up Since then, actresses have rallied behind Sadler by either calling out E! News on the red carpet as Debra Messing did or avoiding interviews with them all together.

"They were saying my name but almost just as a symbol for all of the wrongs and trying to shine a light on that," said Sadler in a recent interview with The Associated Press. "It just reaffirms that there are enough women that have had it. Time is up. The silence? No more."

But even with reignited fuel to combat wage inequality between men and women, Sadler says the fact that "only 30 percent of women actually negotiate their salaries" and it's time to step up.

"That’s way too low. So we’ve got to get in the game, ladies," she said. "We have to arm ourselves with not only the courage to stand up for ourselves and make some noise and knock on the door and say, 'This is my work and this is what I want.' But we have to be able to back it up with substantial tangible information that makes our argument a strong one."

As for leaving the network, where she worked for 11 years, Sadler has no regrets. "I believe I’m on the path I’m intended to be on," she said, although she admits to waiting too long to fight. "I think I tried to play catch-up a little too late. I think that’s where I was hurt because I was in the dark for so long."