We Know Their Salaries Now, But Which Friends Character Was The Richest?
Thought it was Chandler? Not exactly.
The enormous popularity of Friends, the NBC sitcom that spanned ten seasons across two millennia, relies largely on its hilarious, well-written characters — Ross, Monica, Rachel, Chandler, Phoebe, and Joey. Of course, the actors who portrayed them were huge stars when the show aired and raked in millions of dollars per season.
With a reported salary of $1 million for each episode, the Friends cast members were by far the highest paid actors at the time. But sadly, not much is known about their characters' finances.
Economics wasn't approached seriously by the show's writers. For instance, it remains a mystery how Monica could afford to live in that iconic spacious and beautifully furnished apartment, or how Phoebe managed to make ends meet in New York without a stable income. However, it's still possible to follow some hits to draw a bigger picture about the characters' salaries — and you'll be surprised to learn who's the richest of them all.
According to Independent, one recruitment agency has meticulously watched all ten seasons of Friends and created a chart of the characters' incomes. Surprisingly, actor Joey Tribbiani turned out to be the richest of his gang at one point in the show. In Season 7, the character starred in a soap opera, making around $130 thousand a year.
For a couple of seasons after that, Chandler was the highest paid member of the group. As an IT procurement officer (here you go — that's was his job was), he was making around $100 thousand a year before he quit the job to stay with Monica in New York in Season 9. Chandler's new gig as an advertising copywriter did not even pay half as much, earning him only $45 thousand a year.
At the same time, Joey continued to make $90 thousand a year, making him the most well-off person in the group.
As for the other characters, chef Monica reportedly earned around $80 thousand a year, and her brother Ross, a paleontologist, had an annual income of $75 thousand, which gradually dropped to some $60 thousand. Rachel's career in sales brought her $55 thousand annually, and Phoebe was hardly making $20 thousand a year.
Source: Independent.