Christy Carlson Romano Says She Was Paid Half of Shia LaBeouf's "Even Stevens" Salary

Christy Carlson Romano is opening up about her time on“Even Stevens,”and the numbers are hard to ignore. The actress says she earned $6,000 per episode as Ren Stevens while co-star Shia LaBeouf earned $12,000 for the same show, the same seasons, and the same amount of screen time. To back it up, she posted a letter her mom wrote to her agent in 2000 demanding equal pay, which also revealed the family was deep in debt and relying on Romano’s paycheck to stay afloat.

The reveal comes as part of her new memoir,“Once Upon a Trainwreck,”released October 6. Romano has been clear the book isn’t aimed at LaBeouf but at the system around them, describing it as the story of“a girl who grew up too fast and a business that decided she was worth half.”The Disney Channel series ran for three seasons from 2000 to 2003 and made both actors household names.

For fans who grew up on that era of Disney, the story lands differently now. It raises bigger questions about how young talent gets paid, who’s protecting child actors, and why a female co-lead so often ends up with the smaller check. Romano says the memoir is her chance to tell it on her own terms.

Were you shocked by the pay gap, or did you see it coming? Tell us in the comments.