The Hollywood Reporter gathered seven of the top ladies in television right now, including: Jennifer Lopez (Shades of Blue), Kerry Washington (Scandal), Julianna Margulies (The Good Wife), Sarah Paulson (The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, American Horror Story: Hotel), Kirsten Dunst (Fargo), Regina King (American Crime) and Constance Zimmer (UnREAL).
They talked about everything from the sexism in the industry to on-screen sex, the public's perception of them and how their roles have changed them as people in the real world. While we wish we could have been in on the discussion between such empowering, successful women, we were able to get a glimpse of how the interacted and what they chatted about.
Here are 9 highlights from their THR roundtable:
1. Washington Explains How Shonda Rhimes Has Helped Alter Sexism in Hollywood: "I'm in this very surreal environment right now having Shonda Rhimes as my boss...It is specified in scripts that guys take their shirts off all the time."
She continues, "The guys are naked all the time! And she has said to all the women on the show: 'You want to do a love scene in a parka? You just let me know.' So it's this weird, like, reparations moment where the girls get to do what they want to do and the guys get to do what they want to do, but they know what Shonda wants them to do."
2. Paulson Talks Being Asked to Dye Her Hair: "I've never been asked to play the [romantic] leading lady without having to be a blonde," she explained. "I don't mind it, I like the blond—but to be told that in order to be considered a romantic lady opposite some hunky guy, I need to have long blond hair that looked very L.A. Real Housewives?"
She adds, "It does do something to your brain. You go, 'Gosh, so the way I came into the world is not as appealing as it would be if I were altered in some way?' That's a funny message to extend to a person. And that's the other thing: I did it. I put the extensions in, I blonded it up."
3. J.Lo on Her Undeserving ''Diva'' Title: "I got a moniker of being 'the diva,' which I never felt I deserved—which I don't deserve—because I've always been a hard worker, on time, doing what I'm supposed to do, and getting that label because you reach a certain amount of success."
She explains, "I was always fascinated by how I could see [a man] being late or being belligerent to a crew and it being totally acceptable; meanwhile, I'd show up 15 minutes late and be berated. And you watch this happen over and over and over again."
4. Margulies on Having On-Screen Sex in Her 40s: "I've been playing the same character for seven seasons, and all of a sudden this season the girl is taking her clothes off. I'm seven years older than I was when I started it, and I love it," she admits. "There's something great about seeing a woman in her 40s having sex with someone and not being inhibited."
5. Dunst on Doing Uncomfortable Scenes for Film/TV: "I'm pretty much down for anything if the director is good," she quips.
6. Dunst on Learning More From Fargo Than Any Other Role: "I got to do so much more in that TV show than I have in a film in so long. It was the most challenging thing I ever did. I remember my friend Lizzy Caplan, who's on Masters of Sex, being like, 'Get B12 shots, you're going to be exhausted.'"
7. Paulson on Equality for Women in Hollywood: "I think very little has changed. What's maybe changed is the fact that there's more of a conversation happening about it, but I don't know that there's been that much forward motion," she says. "I mean, I haven't had a female director on American Horror Story in the six years that I've been on the show."
8. King on What She's Learned From Playing Different Roles: "Every project I've worked on, as a whole I've learned something—not so much that the character that I'm playing has taught me something, but the people whom I'm working with or the story that's being told has taught me something about people," she explains, adding, "[For example,] on American Crime, it was that so many people think that black people can't be elitist, that a black elitist doesn't exist."
9. Margulies on Women Making a Bigger Impression on Hollywood: "That's the power, isn't it? Creating your own stuff. More and more women of every shape, size, color and age need to just start creating their own [stuff] — to make a door for ourselves to walk through."
Read the full Hollywood Reporter article and roundtable discussion here.