Billy Porter said that during the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, things were so lean that he had to sell his house.
Now that the work stoppages have ended, Porter has a string of new projects out. But he still calls himself a “blue collar” worker who “is not rich,” despite the glamour of his jobs.
“I have a new album out called ‘Black Mona Lisa,’ I have a movie out, ‘Our Son,’ and I have a song with the movie called ‘Always Be My Man,'” the busy star told Pvnew. “I am always working.”
But Porter cautioned that, “Just because you are working does not mean you are rich… I am a blue collar freelance worker, period. I was on strike for 118 days. Ain’t no checks coming in when that happened.”
We caught up with the Emmy-winning “Pose” star, 54, when he walked the runway as a model at the 8th Blue Jacket Fashion Show at Moonlight Studios in NYC.
Last year’s grueling SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes brought the entertainment business to a standstill.
Porter is grateful to be back at work with multiple projects on track again.
“Please, I am working. I am blessed. Don’t cry for me Argentina!” the “Kinky Boots” star told us, humorously referencing another Broadway musical, “Evita.” But he also added: “I am not rich by any stretch of the imagination. Please, we are working hard, yes… that’s it though.”
He also said he sympathized with another star, Taraji P. Henson, who recently, emotionally spoke out about being underpaid in Hollywood when she was promoting her latest movie, “The Color Purple.”
Henson tearfully told Gayle King in an interview in December, “I’m just tired of working so hard, being gracious at what I do [and] getting paid a fraction of the cost… I hear people go, ‘You work a lot.’ Well, I have to. The math ain’t math-ing.”
“When we saw Taraji break down, it was real,” Porter said. “It was the truth.”
Also at the fashion show were stars including Holly Robinson Peete, Ty Hunter, Bevy Smith, Fern Mallis and Tamron Hall.
