is opening up about the pay gap between herself and on long-running sitcom and how she used it to bring an end to the series. When Richardson, 73, spoke to the for the 25th anniversary of the series finale, she shared that Allen was being offered $2 million per episode to return for a ninth season — double what the studio was planning to pay her. Richardson said that prior to the end of the eighth season, she and Allen agreed that was done.
Longtime directors had left the series, which put Allen and Richardson in the awkward position of explaining their established characters to newcomers. She told her friends “there’s not enough money in the world to get me to do a ninth year. The show is over.
It needs to end.” Allen agreed, according to Richardson, until he saw Disney’s extension offer. Richardson felt betrayed and used Allen’s acceptance to end the series.
She asked for the exact same offer, fully aware that she would be declined. “I knew that Disney would in no way pay me that much. That was my way to say ‘no’ and was a little bit of a flip-off to Disney,” she said.
“I’d been there all this time, and they never even paid me a third of what Tim was making, and I was working my ass off. I was a big reason why women were watching.” Richardson said the close of the final season was tense on set.
Both leads were reportedly mad at each other: Allen over Richardson’s refusal to return, Richardson over Allen leaving her out on a limb. “I was mad at .
