NBC came up with their new TV sitcom titled Friends in 1994 and the rest is history. Jennifer Aniston, one of the lead cast members was about to lose a whopping $22 million after the show’s Season 9.
By the time the sitcom’s season 3 started, Friends emerged as the third highest-ranking TV show. Even today, it is considered to be one of the most popular sitcoms of NBC along with other popular shows such as Frasier and Seinfeld.
As the show’s popularity went up by leaps and bounds, the salaries of its lead actors also went up. The sitcom aired on television for a decade or so with the same six lead cast members. However, the sitcom almost lost Jen who portrayed the character of Rachel before its Season 10 started.
Aniston dreamt of becoming an actress from a very young age. She attended the School of Performing Arts in New York but could only get small roles initially after her graduation. However, her career got a major boost after portraying the role of Rachel Green in Friends.
She became one of the major trendsetters and her haircut was referred to as “the Rachel” became a huge rage in the nineties. Jen became one of the highest-paid actresses on television by 2004 and even bagged a Primetime Emmy award, Showbiz Cheat Sheet reports.
However, the actress was almost about to make an expensive blunder worth $22 million because she made up her mind to quit the show. Reports have it that Jennifer Aniston got a paycheck of around $40,000 per episode during Friends season 1.
There was a big jump in Schwimmer and Jen’s salaries by season 2 after their on-screen pairing was loved by the audience. The cast showed their unity so that all got equal pay thereafter.
Their salaries went up every year from $85,000 in season 4 to around $750,000 in season 7 and season 8.
After the hit sitcom completed eight top-rated seasons, the actors started getting offers from other producers. They also began to act on many projects when season 9 commenced. The cast also felt the time was ripe to end the show.
Yet they managed to get a per-episode salary of $1 million after negotiating for higher paychecks once again. The show continued for another two seasons – season 9 and season 10.
Jen decided to leave the show after the end of season 9. Had she left then, she would have lost a whopping figure of approximately $22 million. The actress was convinced that Friends should wrap up after completing season 9 while still at its peak and with great ratings.
However, Jennifer Aniston continued to be a part of the sitcom till its last season – season 10. When the show was streamed on Netflix, it also had a huge fan following among younger generations, The News International reports.