Trending badgeTrendingPosted 2 hours agoSubscribe to Screen Time NewsletterCaret DownPeople Are Appalled After Nina Dobrev Recalled Fighting For The Same Pay As Ian Somerhalder And Paul Wesley On "The Vampire Diaries" Despite Having Double The Workload"Forget equal, she should have been the highest paid actor on that show BY A MILE. She was worked to the bone."by Leyla MohammedBuzzFeed StaffFacebookPinterestLink Nina Dobrev has opened up about fighting for equal pay while she was on The Vampire Diaries. Leon Bennett / Getty Images Not only did Nina, who was just 20 when the CW series aired in 2009, famously play protagonist Elena Gilbert, but she also played multiple doppelgängers of her character. (C)CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection But despite the fact that this resulted in her working more hours and having a more intense workload than her counterparts, Nina has revealed that she was paid less than her male co-leads Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley, who played Damon and Stefan Salvatore. (C)CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection Speaking out in Entertainment Weekly editor Samantha Highfill's new book, titled I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries, Nina noted that she, Candice King (who played Caroline), and Kat Graham (who played Bonnie) were the "three lowest-paid series regulars in the first two seasons" of TVD. Handout / Getty Images "It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my workload. I had to be on set for double the amount of time, I had to memorize double the amount of lines," she detailed, per The Hollywood Reporter. (C)CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection Author Samantha stated that because actors are usually allowed to start negotiating their contracts by Season 3, Nina was likely earning less than Ian and Paul for the first few seasons of the show. "I wanted to play [Elena's doppelgänger] Katherine, but I wanted to be compensated fairly for that, and I wanted to be an equal to the boys," Nina shared, with Samantha adding that while the star was eventually paid more, it was never equal to what Ian and Paul earned. (C)CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection "That was probably the most hurtful because it felt like I was really working hard and we shot eighteen-hour days sometimes, and nights, and I was putting my absolute heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears into it," Nina said."I remember feeling like the studio didn't appreciate what I was bringing to the show, and it felt like they were saying that all the hard work I was putting into it didn't matter to them and that I wasn't an equal to my male counterparts, and so that was upsetting to me," she added. TVD spoiler alert, but Elena was put under a sleeping spell in Season 6, meaning that Nina left the show. However, she famously returned for the Season 8 finale, which aired in 2017. Jon Kopaloff / Getty Images Opening up about pushing for equal pay before agreeing to return for the finale, Nina shared, "I was always open to coming back for the finale, and storyline-wise it made sense. I felt like it was important, and it needed to happen for the show; it needed to happen for the fans. It was just really important to me that at the end of the show, as a woman, I wanted to make sure that I was compensated and that I was an equal to my male counterparts on the show, and so it came down to that." (C)CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection Shockingly, Nina said that she was initially offered "five times less" than what she made at the end of Season 6 to return for the finale. She said, "That's the only reason why, at one point, I almost didn't come back. I needed to be paid parity to the boys. I had to put my foot down and say that if it didn't happen, I wouldn't be able to come back. And it wasn't about the money - I didn't give a shit about the money at all - it was the principle." Jason Laveris / Getty Images Eventually, the studio agreed to pay for just one episode at Nina's requested rate - which is why, as co-creator Julie Plec put it, Nina only appeared in that one final episode. Nina added, "For the fans, I felt horrible, and I wanted the story to be told in the best way possible, and it was heartbreaking that the artistry had to suffer because of this, that we didn't get to maybe have the few episodes at the end of the show that Julie wanted. ... I'm very happy that we were able to make it work and that I came back, because I wanted to be part of the goodbye." Reacting to Nina's comments, several fans were rightfully outraged. "This is disgusting. They worked her to the bone with all those night shoots and doppelgänger scenes, and they still paid her less than Paul and Ian? Fuck the entertainment industry," one person wrote. Eamonn M. Mccormack / Getty Images "Wow, the LEADS weren't getting paid the same at least?!?! She was the main character anyway (imo), so she should have been getting paid the most," someone said."She was the s