Jennifer Aniston Made a Big Money ‘Mistake’ With Her First ‘Friends’ Paycheck
Jennifer Aniston recently spoke about a big financial mistake she made after receiving her first paycheck from Friends. She regrets how she spent her income during this time in her life. Here’s what Aniston said about her misstep.
Jennifer Aniston’s movies and TV shows
One of Aniston’s early acting roles was in the TV series Molloy (1990). She played the character Courtney Walker for seven episodes. That same year, Aniston joined the cast of the TV series Ferris Bueller. She played the role of Jeannie Bueller for 13 episodes from 1990 to 1991.
After a few more roles, Aniston starred in Friends. She played Rachel Green from 1994 to 2004. Some of Aniston’s other acting roles include appearances in The Break-Up (2006), He’s Just Not That Into You (2009), Horrible Bosses (2011), and The Morning Show (2019–2021).
Jennifer Aniston’s big money mistake
Aniston took a trip down memory lane and told PopSugar about her “first big splurge.” She says she purchased a Mercedes convertible after receiving her first Friends paycheck.
“There was a little white 280 SL Mercedes, and it was [parked on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles for a long time] says Aniston. “I mean, it could have been over two years. And I always was like, ‘I can’t wait, someday, someday [I’ll purchase it].’ And one day I bought it, and then I drove it, and then drove it again, and it never drove again.”
Adam Sandler, who was with Aniston to promote their movie, Murder Mystery, was surprised when he heard her story. “Two drives?” asked Sandler.
Aniston didn’t realize until it was too late that the car was a “lemon.” She wishes she had been aware of the car’s condition before she shelled out her hard-earned cash.
“It was a lemon, and that’s why it had been sitting there,” said Aniston. “I didn’t know any better to get it checked out, so that was just a nice 25-year-old mistake.”
Jennifer Aniston made $22,500 per episode during ‘Friends’ Season 1
Aniston says she made this mistake during Friends Season 1. However, she and her castmates were making a great salary at the time. Aniston was making roughly $22,500 per episode, so her error most likely didn’t affect her too much. Furthermore, Aniston and her co-stars received a significant pay bump by the time they ended the series in 2004. Each star (Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer) made $1 million per episode.
How much the ‘Friends’ stars make from reruns
The cast of Friends earns more money in syndication than they earned during the final season. During Friends Season 10, the cast earned $18 million for appearing in 18 episodes.
During the syndication negotiations, the network executives decided to pay each cast member 2% of the show’s back-end profits. Today, the show reportedly earns an estimated $1 billion each year. Consequently, each Friends cast member is paid annual royalties of about $20 million.
Follow Sheiresa Ngo on Twitter.
