“People Call Me a Traitor All the Time”: Disney Heiress Spills Secrets

It’s no secret that the Walt Disney Company has been embroiled in multiple controversies surrounding how it pays its Cast Members and the kind of work environments that most Disney Cast Members function within. However, from within the Disney community, there has been one voice constantly fighting for Cast Members and standing up for Disney Cast Members being paid better wages (particularly a living wage). While the Disney heiress has been criticized a lot for what she has said, Abigail Disney shared further details about her stance and her documentary, The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales.

Most recently, philanthropist Abigail Disney defended how she still loves Disney. “I would say I probably love Disney more than any other super fan could possibly love Disney. It’s in my DNA, it’s down to my toes, and I remember every detail and every nuance of both of those parks,” she said. “I will tell you, though, if you really, really, really love something, then you have to see it truthfully and you have to speak the truth about it and it’s not perfect. I wish it were.” She said.

In the documentary, Abigail E. Disney contrasts the difference between how Cast Members were treated in the original days of the Disneyland Resort. The heiress who commented she was very close to her grandfather elaborated, “I grew up with my grandfather going through the cast member entrance to the park and I remember the people who work there with incredible affection…And there was a great deal of affection between them and my grandfather as well.”

Abigail Disney has often criticized that workers and Cast Members have to sleep in cars and can’t put food on the table while the CEO gets a $65 million check for his work. “I don’t have a problem with your $65 million, I really don’t. Bless you, you’re welcome to it. But don’t take it until everybody’s fed.”

Abigail Disney is referring to the payday current Disney CEO Bob Iger saw in 2018.

Abigail Disney has spoken out about this before. Still, particularly this time, her comments coincide with the negotiations that went on (unsuccessfully) between the Walt Disney Company and the union for Cast Members. Disney refused to increase the wages per the demands of the union, and the union also officially rejected the Walt Disney Company’s wage offer.

As reported by Click Orlando, the heiress concluded that she has been called a traitor many times and is told she is a traitor to her name. To this, Disney responded, “I kind of study traitors because people call me a traitor all the time…I believe I have a loyalty higher than Disney and that’s to my fellow human beings.”

Abigail Disney, in the documentary, focuses on the income disparity in modern-day society; it is “the film Disney does not want you to see.” It premiered at the Sundance film festival in January 2022.