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Melanie Lynskey has opened up about what she earned while starring in Two and a Half Men.
“Sorry, but this insane number is floating around on the internet and I must tell you how wrong it is,” Lynskey, 49, who played Rose on the CBS sitcom, commented in response to an Instagram user’s October 25 claim that she made “$200,000 to $300,000” per episode.
She then detailed precisely what she received after appearing in 63 episodes out of the show’s total of 262. “I made literally one tenth of that stated number per episode. Started at $20,000 with I believe a 5 percent raise each season, but more than half of the episodes I did were in the first two seasons,” Lynskey continued. “The highest paycheck I got on the show was, I think, $43,000 for one episode in the final season.”
The Yellowjackets actress then added that large portions of her pay were then sliced up to remunerate other entities. “This is before agents, managers, business managers’ cuts, and taxes, so you take home around 50 percent of what you are paid,” she wrote, adding that her pay cheque suited her fine at the time. (Two and a Half Men ran for 12 seasons between 2003 and 2015.)
“I was extremely grateful for the job and for the money,” she explained. “It allowed me to pay my small mortgage, and pay bills, and be able to work in indie movies and build a career. But there is this insane idea that I made millions of dollars and it’s so ridiculous.”
The Instagram post that attracted Lynskey’s comments was originally shared by the “Alchemy With Anthony Mason” podcast and featured an interview with her Two and a Half Men costar Holland Taylor. In the interview, Taylor, 83, said that the show never paid her “very well” despite receiving four Emmy nominations. “They never gave me a raise,” Taylor said.
The ‘Two and a Half Men’ cast: (l-r) Lee Aronsohn, Charlie Sheen Conchata Ferrell, Holland Taylor, Emmanuelle Vaugier and Melanie Lynskey Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for PCA
The social media user who claimed that Lynskey earned upwards of $200,000 also claimed that Taylor was paid “$75,000 an episode,” although no specific figures were mentioned by Taylor herself. The open conversation, however, motivated Lynskey to jump in with her own two cents.
“If Holland’s talking about it I’ll talk about it too 😂,” Lynskey concluded her comment.
She added another comment that went into further detail as to where she stood in life when she was part of Two and a Half Men. “I will say that that money was huge for me!! I was 25 years old when I got that job, and a couple of years in, I was able to put a down payment on a house,” Lynskey wrote. “I always think in terms of how lucky I am compared to the vast majority of actors because it is so, so hard to make a living. I had struggled so much at that point so I was very grateful. It wasn’t my show and I felt fine with what I was paid. I just get annoyed when it’s misreported.”
She added, “Also, Holland is, and was, a legend, and a queen, and deserved many raises!!!!”
