With his first Friends paycheck, Matt LeBlanc bought a hot dinner, a simple but significant purchase after being down to his last $11 before landing the role, contrasting with other cast members who bought luxury items like cars, highlighting his immediate financial relief.
When the cast got their paychecks, the first thing that Courteney Cox bought was a car. Matt LeBlanc bought a hot dinner.
When Matt LeBlanc first auditioned for the role of Joey Tribbiani, he reportedly had only $11 in his bank account. After he got his first paycheck for the pilot, the very first thing he bought was a hot meal—specifically, a steak dinner—because he had been living on almost nothing for weeks.
Matt LeBlanc auditioned for the role as Joey Tribbiani he only had $11. When the cast got their paychecks, the first thing he bought was a hot dinner. Edward Wiley ► FRIENDS then, now, forever!
Most of the 'Friends' stars spent some of their first earnings on luxury cars. Matt LeBlanc had different plans. In the final two seasons of the show's 10-season run, the cast of “Friends” famously made up to $1 million per episode. However, it wasn't always that way.
Several iconic TV stars earned $1 million or more per episode, most famously the casts of Friends (Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, David Schwimmer) and The Big Bang Theory (Jim Parsons, Johnny Galecki, Kaley Cuoco), who negotiated equal $1 million salaries for later seasons. Other actors like Reese Witherspoon & Nicole Kidman (for Big Little Lies Season 2) and Sarah Jessica Parker & co-stars (for And Just Like That...) also reached or exceeded this figure, alongside Jerry Seinfeld, Peter Dinklage, and Norman Reedus.
Joey Tribbiani was a down-on-his-luck actor at several points during “Friends” and so was Matt LeBlanc — before he landed his defining role. In fact, LeBlanc was so poor before he became Joey that the actor said that he only had $11 to his name when he got the call that would change his life forever.
Today, Aniston is thought to be worth a whopping $320 million (£253m), making her the richest member of the Friends cast by some distance.
Yes, Matt LeBlanc attended Matthew Perry's private funeral in November 2023, along with all the other main Friends cast members, including Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, and David Schwimmer, to say their farewells to their co-star and friend.
From season 3 onward, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, Lisa Kudrow, Matt LeBlanc, David Schwimmer, and the late Matthew Perry banded together to negotiate a stake in syndication. The reward? Each now earns around $20 million annually from the show's syndication and streaming revenue.
"I wasn't invited. So what can you do?" It appears it was only a Girls Only event. "The girls were there," LeBlanc told ET, referring to Courtney Cox and Lisa Kudrow.
So who earned the most? Well, Giff Gaff dug through all 10 seasons of the hit sitcom to estimate each character's salary – and they've determined that the highest paid member of the gang is, in fact, Joey.
One of the most insane facts about the show is that WB is still making almost a billion dollars a year from reruns and syndication. And cause of royalties, each of the cast members still make 20 million dollars a year, by practically doing nothing!
Jennifer Aniston and David Schwimmer were offered more money than their co-stars. However, Aniston and Schwimmer stuck up for their friends and opposed the unequal pay structure. In an interview, Jennifer Aniston opened up about the salary negotiations that could've easily destroyed the 'Friends'.
LeBlanc and Perry first met when they were cast as roommates and best friends on the NBC sitcom Friends in 1994. From day one, their chemistry was undeniable — both on-screen as the hilarious Joey and Chandler, and off-screen as real-life pals.
Adam Sandler tried to smooth it over by claiming he got her three Ferraris but they were apparently rejected at her gate. Jen wasn't having it and jokingly stormed off the set. She left in a huff. Ferrari's not included.
Chandler's move to Tulsa was the writers' way of handling Matthew Perry's health struggles. By having his character away from the group, they could leave him out of episodes if he needed time to recover.
Yep, just days after news of the nuptials hit TMZ, it was revealed that co-stars Matt LeBlanc, Matthew Perry, and David Schwimmer were not in attendance.
Which star from the TV show Friends has been the least successful since it has ended? Well, it depends on how you measure success. David SChwimmer has been involved in the fewest projects (but after making $80-$100 mm (pre-tax)), how much harder do you want to work?
What may happen to Perry's 'Friends' residuals. When an actor passes away, residual payments are considered the actor's personal property. Now, this residual cash flow stream is presumably owned by his estate.
Chandler Bing was always the most stable early on, with $20–30k in Season 1. By the end, he had as much as $300–500k.
Actress Jennifer Aniston has publicly shared that she was diagnosed with dyslexia in her 20s, a diagnosis that explained lifelong struggles with reading, writing, and retaining information, leading her to believe she wasn't smart until discovering the learning disorder. She discovered this during an eye exam, where she realized her eyes jumped words when reading, and the diagnosis helped her understand past difficulties, transforming her self-perception.
Originally, Courteney Cox — then the biggest star among the up-and-coming cohort, having appeared on Seinfeld — was slated to play Rachel, until she last-minute decided to also read for Monica “nailed it.”
Jennifer Aniston's 80/20 rule is a balanced approach to wellness, focusing on healthy, nutrient-dense foods 80% of the time while allowing for indulgences like pizza, pasta, or martinis (the 20%) without guilt, promoting consistency and sustainability over perfection. It's about moderation, enjoying life's treats, and getting back on track with healthy choices at the next meal or workout, emphasizing that no food is inherently "bad".