Melanie Lynskey has offered a candid account of what she really earned on Two and a Half Men, days after her co-star Holland Taylor criticized the sitcom and CBS.
The 49-year-old actress responded in the comments beneath a clip of 83-year-old Taylor discussing her pay on the podcast Alchemy with Anthony Mason.
One fan praised Taylor’s performance and claimed she had been paid just $75,000 per episode, while Charlie Sheen reportedly earned between $1 million and $1.8 million, Jon Cryer received $575,000 and Angus T. Jones made $300,000 per episode.
The commenter also claimed Conchata Ferrell earned $150,000 per episode and that Lynskey’s salary eventually reached between $200,000 and $300,000.
Lynskey stepped in to correct what she described as an “insane” rumor about her earnings from the long-running comedy.
“Hey! Sorry, but this insane number is floating around on the internet and I must tell you how wrong it is,” she wrote. “I only did 63 out of 262 episodes of that show. I made literally one tenth of that stated number per episode, starting at $20,000 with, I believe, a 5% raise each season. More than half of the episodes I did were in the first two seasons.”
Melanie Lynskey has spoken openly about her Two and a Half Men salary after castmate Holland Taylor criticized her pay on the series and CBS
Lynskey played Rose, Charlie Harper’s devoted and obsessive neighbor and stalker, whose devious behavior became a signature part of the show; above, Sheen and Lynskey appear in a 2003 episode
She added that her highest payment was approximately $43,000 for a single episode during the final season. That figure came before deductions for agents, managers, business managers and taxes, meaning she ultimately took home about half of her stated salary.
Lynskey portrayed Rose, Charlie Harper’s devoted, obsessive neighbor and stalker, on the sitcom. The character was known for her endearing yet devious behavior.
Although Lynskey said she was thankful for the opportunity, she dismissed claims that the role had made her millions.
“I was extremely grateful for the job and for the money. It allowed me to pay my small mortgage and bills, work in independent movies and build a career,” Lynskey explained. “But there is this insane idea that I made millions of dollars, and it’s so ridiculous.”
She concluded: “If Holland’s talking about it, I’ll talk about it too” [laughing emoji].
Lynskey was referring to Taylor’s recent remarks that she was never offered a raise during her time on Two and a Half Men.
“They never paid me very well on that show,” the veteran actress said during the podcast episode.
Taylor, whose longtime partner is Sarah Paulson, said she was paid the same amount she had earned on a series roughly eight years earlier.
The 49-year-old actress commented on a clip of 83-year-old Taylor discussing her lack of a pay raise on the podcast Alchemy with Anthony Mason
Lynskey responded directly to the comment to set the record straight about the “insane” figures circulating online
While Lynskey said she appreciated the opportunity, she rejected claims that Two and a Half Men had made her a millionaire; above, she appears with Sheen on the sitcom
Taylor also noted that, despite receiving four Emmy nominations for playing Evelyn Harper—the mother of Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer’s characters—she never received a pay increase during her six seasons as a regular cast member.
‘They never gave me a raise. They usually do, just as a courtesy. I loved a lot about that show, but they were not full of courtesies,’ Holland noted.
The Hollywood fixture added that she left producers ‘astonished’ when she decided not to renew her contract in 2009.
‘I said, “I don’t want to be under contract anymore,” and they said, “We can’t pay you any more money,”‘ she recalled.
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She detailed, ‘First of all, I said, “You could actually pay me the cost of this building, but don’t bother, because I don’t want to continue on under contract.”‘
Instead, she made guest appearances at her discretion, telling producers, ‘I will visit the show occasionally if you want.’
Holland acknowledged the significance of her role, telling podcast host Mason, ‘I mean, I did play the boys’ mother [after all].’
She claimed that CBS ‘didn’t want to’ increase her pay because ‘they were just trying to protect themselves against giving me a raise of any significance.’
This came a week after Holland Taylor revealed the reason she left the Sheen-led sitcom; pictured October 13
Holland, 83, said that despite earning four Emmy nominations for her turn as Evelyn Harper – mother to Sheen and Jon Cryer’s characters – she was never offered a raise
And she pointed out that Cryer ‘quadrupled his salary’ when his contract was up.
After her contract expired, Holland did return occasionally in a guest capacity.
In the end, she appeared in all 12 seasons of the series throughout its run from 2003-2015.
In September 2025, 60-year-old Cryer opened up about earning significantly less than Sheen, 61, on the hit show.
In the Netflix documentary aka Charlie Sheen, the 60-year-old actor said he earned one third of Sheen’s salary.
Per Forbes, Sheen was earning $1.9 million per episode at the show’s peak.
Meanwhile, Cryer made only $620,000 per episode, as claimed by The Hollywood Reporter.
Cryer detailed how he felt about the pay discrepancy.
‘He’s in the midst of falling apart in every way that I can imagine, and he’s renegotiating his contract for another year of a show that I’m supposed to be on, too,’ he said, according to an account from People.
He went on to compare his troubled co-star – who was eventually dismissed from the show amid personal struggles – to a dictator.
Melanie Lynskey, Conchata Ferrell, Taylor, Marin Hinkle, Sheen, Angus T. Jones, and Jon Cryer pictured in 2005
Holland pointed out that Cryer ‘quadrupled his salary’ when his contract was up, but she wasn’t offered the same courtesy
Cryer stated: ‘The dictator of North Korea was a guy named Kim Jong-Il. He acted crazy all the time and thus got enormous amounts of aid from countries who were so scared of him that they would shovel money at him.
‘Well, that’s what happened here. [Sheen’s] negotiations went off the charts because his life was falling apart. Me, whose life was pretty good at that time, I got a third of that.’
He also revealed that the show’s network, CBS, had motive to ‘spend this astonishing amount of money on Charlie’ because it had ‘pre-sold a couple extra seasons’ of the series.
However, Sheen was let go from the television comedy in 2011 after he publicly criticized show creator Chuck Lorre. He was replaced by Ashton Kutcher.