WTF?! Ellen Pompeo Earns An Effing Crazy Amount Of Money For Each Grey’s Anatomy Episode

There’s no better feeling than when you finally clinch that pay rise you’ve been in the running for. Finally, you can splash out on that extra round of G&Ts, or that ‘not a need but a WANT WANT WANT’ festival playsuit you’ve been eyeing up in Topshop.

In Ellen Pompeo’s case though, a pay rise meant she could probably afford to bankroll a small African country.

The actress just recently updated her contract before signing on for the 13th season of Grey’s Anatomy, and Deadline reports that she’s now earning “well north of $300,000 an episode.”

Yup, that’s roughly €268,000 per hour-long episode, of which there are 25 per season, meaning Ellen will walk away with a massive €6.7m at the end of Season 13.

Looking for a pay rise? We’ve got your back: How To Ask Your Boss For A Pay Rise (And Make Sure You Get One!)

Ellen has been playing Meredith Grey since the show first began back in 2005, and with her co-star Patrick Dempsey leaving the show in controversial circumstances last year, it stands to reason that the mum-of-two can command a pretty crazy salary.

Patrick was ordered chose to leave Grey’s after it was discovered that he was cheating on his wife of 15 years Jillian Fink with a crew member. The actor and his wife have since reportedly reunited, but given that his character met a fairly dramatic end, he definitely won’t be returning to the show.

Of course, Ellen Pompeo isn’t the first TV actor to command such a high salary. In fact, her take-home seems pretty conservative next to some of her other industry counterparts.

By the final two seasons of Friends in 2003 and 2004, the cast members were each earning a massive $1m per episode. Matt Le Blanc has since justified the casts’ crazy paychecks by saying that they were “in a position to get” that much money, and therefore felt that they should.

Back in 2014, the Big Bang Theory principal cast negotiated a three-season contract which now sees them earning a similar $1m per episode, making them the highest-paid TV actors of this decade so far.

That’s roughly $40,000 a minute (€35,000), btw. Right, we’re off to cry in the corner as we stare at last month’s paycheck…

• ellen pompeo
• friends
• greys anatomy
• patrick dempsey
• the big bang theory