India, Sept. 12 -- Hollywood actor Nina Dobrev has now revealed why she walked away from The Vampire Diaries at the height of the show's popularity. According to Nina, there was a pay gap between her and her male co-stars, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley - which she says never closed, despite her playing one of the leads for years. In a new book I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries, the 36-year-old stated: "Candice King, Kat Graham (co-stars) and I were the three lowest-paid series regulars in the first two seasons." Nina also told the book's author, American journalist Samantha Highfill that while her contract only listed one Elena Gilbert, she was also tasked with playing a doppelgangers. "It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena Gilbert, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my workload. I wanted to be compensated fairly and wanted to be an equal to the boys," she shared. As per the actor, the network rebuffed her negotiations for a raise. "They just said out of principle they wouldn't bump me up; that was probably the most hurtful because I was putting my absolute heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears into it," she said, adding, "It wasn't about the money - I didn't give a s**** about that at all - it was the principle." htc...