Friends Salaries: Just How Much Money Did the Legendary Cast Earn?
Few TV shows have reached the iconic status of Friends, and even fewer casts have negotiated salaries like its six main stars. So let's talk money!
It's safe to say that Friends is the most iconic sitcom ever created, and even today it has no competition.
Of course, the success of the show is due to the talent of the show's creative team, but in addition to interesting storylines, it was the cast that made Friends the legacy it is today.
So it's only natural to be interested in how much money the main characters were making at the time and how different their paychecks were at different times of the show.
Season 1: When It All Started
When the show premiered, it’s obvious that none of the cast was a household name, so the modest paycheck is somewhat logical. That being said, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry and David Schwimmer each made $22,500 per episode of season 1.
Season 2: First Changes
Each member of the Friends cast had a different salary for season 2, and The New York Times reported that some of them made "in the $20,000 range" while others pocketed $40,000. And that’s quite funny, especially since there were no particular leads in the series and all 6 friends were considered main characters.
However, it was rumored that Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer were the ones bringing home the big bucks.
Season 3: New Demands
When season 3 was greenlit, David Schwimmer made a bold decision to try to negotiate new terms for the whole cast. As him and Aniston were the highest earning actors in the group, they decided to demand equal raises for the whole gang, and the studio ended up agreeing on paying them each about $75,000 per episode.
The Rest Is History for Friends
In season 4, they had a raise up to $85,000 per episode. Season 5 brought another $15,000 in additional money, and during season 7 all the six main characters were earning $125,000 per episode.
Things changed dramatically again after Season 6, when Aniston, Cox, Kudrow, LeBlanc, Perry and Schwimmer went from earning $125,000 per episode to a staggering $750,000 per episode in seasons 7 and 8.
And just when you thought it couldn't go any higher, the gang did the impossible and negotiated $1 million per episode for seasons 9 and 10. Apparently that made Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox and Jennifer Aniston the highest-paid women on television at the time.
