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Holland Taylor opens up about her decision to leave Two and a half men after her contract expired.
The 83-year-old actress starred as Evelyn Harper, the mother of Charlie and Alan, over twelve seasons of the series, but after the first six years, she took a step back. She continued with a major role through season nine and only appeared again in the last three seasons.
In a new interview, Netherlands she explained her decision to step away from the show when her contract expired.
“I stopped being under contract,” Netherlands divided by the Alchemy by Anthony Mason podcast. “So, in other words, they would say, ‘Can you do a guest appearance at the end of March?’ And I would say, ‘I can’t, I can’t.’ And I only did it if I wanted to.”
When asked why she stopped being contracted, Netherlands she said it was “absolutely” her choice and explained that it had to do with not being paid well.
“Of course, they were surprised because when your contract ends is when people usually hold up the truck. And they never paid me very well on that show,” the actress said. “I got paid on that series what I made on a series like eight years before or something. And I got, you know, four Emmy nominations and they never gave me a raise. Usually they do, just as a courtesy.”
She said she “loved that show, but they weren’t full of courtesies.”
“Anyway, when the six years were up, I said, ‘I don’t want to be under contract anymore, but I’ll visit the show from time to time if you want.’ I mean, I played the boy’s mom,” Netherlands continue “I said, ‘I don’t want to be under contract anymore.’ And they said, ‘We can’t pay you any more money.’ At first, I said, ‘You could pay me the cost of this building, but don’t worry because I don’t want to continue under contract.'”
“And they said, ‘But we can’t give you more.’ I said, ‘I’m cool with it. I will come back as a guest from time to time,” she said. “They could… John [Cryer] four times his salary or something like that. That’s what they usually do when the contract ends.”
As mentioned, Netherlands she received four Emmy Award nominations for her role on the CBS sitcom for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series in 2005, 2007, 2008, and 2010.
She was, however, a former Emmy Award-winning actress Two and a half men. She won Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her work on it The Practice in 1999.
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