Lisa Kudrow has surprised fans by revealing just how much money she and her Friends co-stars are still earning decades after the sitcom ended. The actress, who played the eccentric Phoebe Buffay across all ten seasons of the hit series from 1994 to 2004, starred alongside Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, and the late Matthew Perry.
The cast famously negotiated their contracts together, starting at around $22,500 per episode in the early seasons before eventually reaching a reported $1 million per episode each by the final two series. The ensemble later reunited for a 2021 HBO Max special, with reports suggesting they each earned around $2.5 million for the one-off return. But Lisa says those figures are only part of the financial story.
Speaking to The Times, the 62-year-old actress revealed the show’s ongoing global success continues to generate enormous passive income for the cast through syndication. She claimed each actor still earns around £15 million a year in residual payments from reruns and streaming of Friends.
Beyond the financial revelation, Lisa reflected on the enduring cultural impact of the series and why it continues to perform so strongly with audiences worldwide. “After Matthew died I watched the show again. Before, I only saw what I did wrong or could have done better, but for the first time I truly appreciated just how great it was,” she said, referring to Matthew Perry’s death on October 28, 2023, at the age of 54 from the acute effects of ketamine. “Because there was a genius at work. And whatever any of us do in the future, we will never experience something like that again.”
She also spoke warmly about her co-stars’ performances: “I felt I did OK, but Jennifer and Courteney? Amazing. David and Matt? They had me laughing so hard. And then Matthew – he was just beyond us all.”
The comments come shortly after Lisa suggested she was often underestimated during the show’s peak popularity, claiming she was sometimes treated as secondary to her castmates. “Nobody cared about me,” she said in an interview with The Independent. “There were certain parts of [my talent agency] that just referred to me as ‘the sixth Friend.’”
As the series became a global phenomenon from its early seasons, several of her co-stars went on to secure major film roles, while Lisa has previously indicated she did not receive the same level of Hollywood opportunity. “There was no vision for me, and no expectations about the kind of career I could have,” she said. “There was just, like, ‘Boy, is she lucky she got on that show.’”
Despite that, Lisa went on to build a successful career beyond Friends, including her acclaimed HBO comedy The Comeback, which she co-created with Michael Patrick King. Speaking ahead of its third season, King reportedly expressed surprise that she was not inundated with offers during her post-Friends years. Lisa also highlighted her place in the show’s history, noting she was the first of the cast to win an Emmy, taking Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 1998. She added that it wasn’t until her role in the 1999 film Analyze This, starring Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal, that more substantial opportunities began to follow.
Elsewhere, Lisa Kudrow has spoken about balancing work and motherhood during the height of her fame. She previously revealed she returned to work just days after giving birth to her son Julian in 1998. “I'm looking back, and I had given birth to my son and ten days later I was at a meeting,” she told CBS Sunday Morning. “I did the Tonight Show. And then was in a meeting for Analyze This.” She recalled being reassured by her team at the time: “My agent's like, ‘Yeah, you'll be okay. You're not shooting until July, and it's May. It's no big deal’.”
In a separate conversation with Interview Magazine, Kudrow also clarified that Phoebe Buffay was not originally close to her own personality. “At first, Phoebe was very, very far from me,” she said. “It took a lot of work to justify the things she would say and do. Not in an irritating way – it was fun.” Over time, she admitted she grew into the character. “Over the course of ten years, a little bit of her came into me,” Lisa said. “I lightened up a little more and read some books on spirituality and things, just to try to understand her.” She also rejected the idea that she is defined by ditzy roles, adding: “In 1994, it was like, ‘I love her. She’s such a ditz.’ And it’s like, yeah, OK, that was what a ditz was to us. Someone who wasn’t toeing the line.”
