{"id":640139,"date":"2026-04-30T08:00:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:00:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640139\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T08:00:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T08:00:10","slug":"lisa-kudrow-just-divulged-the-truly-obscene-money-the-friends-cast-still-earn-every-single-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/640139\/","title":{"rendered":"Lisa Kudrow Just Divulged The Truly Obscene Money The Friends Cast Still Earn Every Single Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Lisa Kudrow has left us crying in poor after revealing the eye-watering amount that the cast<\/a> of Friends earns in residuals every year. Hint: it\u2019s a f**k tonne.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

The actress opened up about her ongoing earnings from the hit 90s sitcom<\/a> \u2014 in which she played the forever-iconic Phoebe Buffay<\/a> \u2014 in an interview with The Times of London<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When asked why Kudrow and her Friends co-stars earn \u201c\u00a315 million (AUD $28 million) a year from repeat fees\u201d, the actress seemingly verified the figure by going on to answer the question.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kudrow not correcting the jaw-dropping figure when it was read out to her was all the confirmation folks needed to take the number and run with it, particularly since it\u2019s widely known that Friends was an extremely well-paying gig towards the end of its 10-season run.<\/p>\n

\"lisa-kudrow-image\"These days, Kudrow is starring in the third season of The Comeback. (Image: Getty)<\/p>\n

In Hollywood terms, residuals are the compensation payments made to actors whenever a TV show is reused, rerun, or sold after its initial release.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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In the case of Friends \u2014 arguably the biggest sitcom in history \u2014 all those reruns, in the more than two decades since the finale aired, have evidently added up. And for the cast, they\u2019ve stacked up to a truly innumerable number of Central Perk lattes.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The residuals are on top of what Kudrow and the gang were paid during their time working on the show, with the main cast starting off on $22,500 (AUD $31,000)\u00a0 per episode in season one to a whopping $1 million (AUD $1.4 million) per episode in seasons nine and 10.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not even going to bother adjusting those salaries for inflation because my wallet simply couldn\u2019t bear it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"It\u2019s hard to pick a favourite Friend, but Phoebe is up there. (Image: NBC)<\/p>\n

As for why Kudrow reckons the cast earned every penny, she put it down to the chemistry between herself and Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc and the late Matthew Perry<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter Matthew died<\/a> I watched the show again,\u201d Kudrow told The Times.\u00a0\u201cFor the first time, I truly appreciated just how great it was. I felt I did OK, but Jennifer and Courteney? Amazing. David and Matt? They had me laughing so hard. And then Matthew \u2014 he was just beyond us all,\u201d she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

When you put it like that, I guess Friends really is priceless.<\/p>\n

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