This is how much the Friends cast still make from re-runs

friends apartment
(Image credit: NBC via Getty Images)

We all know how successful Friends was, even though viewers hated it when it first aired. It obviously went on to have 10 seasons, multiple guest appearances (including Julia Roberts, Reese Witherspoon & Brad Pitt).

It was so successful that towards the end, our favourite Friends characters were each famously earning a tidy $1m per episode, which basically meant $24m a season.

The show ended in 2004, and while Jennifer Aniston has had a massive career in Hollywood, and Courtney Cox starred in Cougar Town, the rest of the cast haven't been as busy. But don't feel too bad for them, because they're still raking it in.

You see at the time, their managers and the team at Warner Bros knew they'd hit the jackpot with the sitcom, so they signed a syndication deal in 2002, which would give the actors 2% of the money earned by Warners for every re-run of the show.

While that might seem like nothing, bearing in mind the studio apparently still earns $1b a year from the show, that equates to $20m each. Definitely beats the state pension.

Plus, that's likely to double, thanks to Friends landing on Netflix (and it's staying put FYI, despite rumours to the contrary), which reportedly cost the streaming service $100m. Rachel definitely won't be needing those credit cards after all...

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Contributing Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK. She writes about catwalk trends and the latest high street and Instagram sartorial must-haves. She also helms the Women Who Win franchise.

She has worked in fashion for over 10 years, contributing to publications such as Cosmopolitan, Red, Good Housekeeping, and Stylist.