Ellen Pompeo has reportedly signed a two-year contract to continue starring in Grey’s Anatomy, making her the highest-paid actress on TV with an annual salary north of $20 million. But, she tells The Hollywood Reporter that getting that much money took years, with no help from longtime co-star Patrick Dempsey. Pompeo said “Patrick leaving the show was a defining moment, deal-wise. They could always use him as leverage against me–‘We don’t need you; we have Patrick’–which they did for years. There were many times when I reached out about joining together to negotiate, but he was never interested in that.” She adds, “At one point, I asked for $5,000 more than him just on principle, because the show is Grey’s Anatomy and I’m Meredith Grey. They wouldn’t give it to me.”
Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman are expected to get big raises for Season 2 of Big Little Lies. According to The Hollywood Reporter, they will both make around $1 million per episode (plus executive producer fees and back-end points), up from the $250,000 to $350,000 they made for the first season. Co-stars Zoe Kravitz and Shailene Woodley are also said to be getting significant salary bumps. The salary spike is reportedly related to Witherspoon’s new deal with Apple, which is allegedly paying her and Jennifer Aniston $1.25 million per episode for their upcoming morning-news drama. Season two will begin shooting this spring but won’t air until 2019.
*photos courtesy of Variety