At the time Emmy Rossum was signed on, she was just The Phantom of the Opera girl.
What is allegedly happening is that Rossum wants to be paid more now to make up for all of the seasons when she was paid less than William H. Macy.
William H. Macy had been a well-known and well-liked actor for years before signing on with Shameless.
Sure, she’d been in a few bigger movies, but she was never the #1 name in those movies, and she hardly had the negotiation clout that William H. Macy had going in.