Melanie Lynskey wants the record straight. The actress, best known to sitcom fans as Rose on Two and a Half Men, responded to an Instagram comment claiming she earned $200,000 to $300,000 from her 63-episode run on the CBS comedy. Her reply was blunt:“This insane number is floating around on the internet and I must tell you how wrong it is.”According to Lynskey, she made roughly one tenth of that per episode, and then agents and taxes cut into it further.
Her comments dropped right as former co-star Holland Taylor made headlines of her own. Taylor said on a podcast that the show never gave her a raise, noting that Jon Cryer quadrupled his salary while hers stayed put. Lynskey didn’t go after anyone directly, but she did offer a pointed line about the show’s culture, saying she loved a lot about it,“but they were not full of courtesies.”
Lynskey also made clear she’s not bitter about the job itself. The steady sitcom paycheck let her pay her mortgage and take on indie films, and she said she’s grateful for that. What bothers her is watching a made-up number travel further than the truth. Have you ever had to correct a rumor about your own paycheck?
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Local Lawton
Local Lawton is a contributor to LocalBeat, covering local news and community stories.