Sea of Love star Ellen Barkin has claimed she was “thrown off” her SAG-AFTRA-sponsored health insurance.
The 69-year-old actor, who has been a contributing member of the Screen Actors Guild – American Federation of Television and Radio Artists for the past 40 years, said it was “because residuals don’t count as earnings for seniors”.
“I was just informed that I was thrown off my SAGAFTRA health insurance because residuals don’t count as earnings for seniors….seniors who need it most,” Barkin wrote on X.
Residuals are payments made over the long term to screen and theatrical actors from reruns or additional airings of a TV or movie after its original release. The demand for increased streaming residuals was one of the biggest issues of the recently resolved actors’ strike.
According to SAG-AFTRA’s website, members over the age of 65 must “meet the Eligibility Threshold (currently $25,950) in Covered Earnings during your 12-month Base Earnings Period”.
“You must have at least some sessional earnings reported; if you do, both sessional and residual earnings are included toward the Eligibility Threshold,” it adds.
The coverage guidelines do not stipulate that members below the age of 65 need sessional earnings to be eligible.
When asked by someone in the comments if this meant “an actor can never really retire if they want to maintain SAG-AFTRA coverage”, Barkin responded: “Exactly what it means.”
The Independent has contacted SAG-AFTRA for comment.
Barkin’s latest role was playing Lilly McDermott, the nefarious mother-in-law to Adam DeVine’s straight-laced bank manager Owen Browning in the 2023 action-comedy The Out-Laws.
She also guest-starred as Kathleen Townsend, the main villain, on an episode of Rian Johnson’s 2023 debut TV series, Poker Face, which stars Natasha Lyonne as a vagabond with an extraordinary ability to detect lies.
In 2022, Barkin was called on to testify on behalf of Amber Heard in the high-profile defamation case brought against her by her ex-husband Johnny Depp.
The Drop Dead Gorgeous actor claimed that Depp had supplied her with Quaalude drug before they had sex for the first time.
“He came on to me in the living room of my house, pulled me onto his lap and said something like, ‘Oh, come on Ellen,’ or whatever,” Barkin said in her video deposition. “I protested a little and then – not too much. And that was that.”
The Pirates of the Caribbean star ultimately won his highly publicised trial against Heard, with a jury finding that Heard had defamed Depp on all three counts. He was awarded $10m (£8m) in compensatory damages and $5m (£4m) in punitive damages.
Heard was awarded $2m (£1.6m) in compensatory damages, but no punitive damages.
