The Friends cast are known for having a super strong bond, it’s why we all bought into their on-screen friendships and why we all eagerly anticipated a reunion special for so long.
But Hollywood is all about making money and advancing in your career, and that intense competition can often lead to jealousy and friendships falling apart.
Speaking to the Wall Street Journal magazine, Jennifer Aniston admitted that the cast could have been torn apart by salary differences, especially since herself and David Schwimmer started to earn more in season 2 , but the six bonded together and fought to have equal pay.
“It would’ve destroyed us, I think, if someone was soaring financially,” she said.
Aniston previously said that she felt “uneasy” earning more than her co-stars, stating: “It was more about, ‘We’re doing equal work and we all deserve to be compensated in the same way.’ I wouldn’t feel good going to work knowing someone was getting x amount and I was getting something greater.”
She and Schwimmer actually took pay cuts to be in line with their co-stars, rather than the pay for the other four main cast members being driven up. By the end of the show, however, they were all still earning a whopping $1 million per episode (that’s 24 episodes for season 9 and 16 episodes for season 10).
“A million dollars an episode, let’s be honest, that’s kinda ridiculous,” co-creator Marta Kauffman once said. “That’s a lot of money. It’s inflated. And there’s something unrealistic about it.”
