Melissa McCarthy's Yearly Earnings Definitely Explain How Her Net Worth Is So Sky-High
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Melissa McCarthy has gone from playing Sookie on Gilmore Girls to being a perma A-lister who commands a huge per-project paycheck. Like, she makes so much money that she's one of the highest paid actors in Hollywood. So naturally, we did a full breakdown of her year-by-year earnings, plus what she made for Gilmore Girls—since you know you're curious.
Melissa McCarthy's (Major !!!!) Year-by-Year Earnings
2012
Otherwise known as the year Melissa McCarthy made her Bridesmaids money—and the year she debuted on Forbes' Celeb 100 with total earnings of $6 million thanks to the iconic film (which earned her an Oscar nomination) and her show Mike and Molly.
2014
Prepare accordingly, because these numbers are going up up up. In 2014, Melissa—who was still starring in Mike and Molly at the time—earned a reported $10 million.
2015
One of Melissa's most profitable years, when Forbes reported that Spy and Tammy "propelled her to her largest ever annual paycheck," along with her size-inclusive clothing line Seven7, leading to earnings of $23 million.
2016
Thanks to earning eight figures (so...tens of millions) to star in Ghostbusters, Melissa made $33 million in 2016, according to Forbes.
2017
Another decent year, by which I mean Melissa made a reported $18 million thanks to movies like Life of the Party.
2018
Annnd another strong year for Melissa, when she reportedly made $12 million thanks to The Happytime Murders and Can You Ever Forgive Me?
2019/2020
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Melissa earned $25 million between 2019 and 2020—during a pandemic, no less! Quick break to check in with your bank account after reading these numbers:
P.S. Melissa and her husband Ben Falcone have a production company together called On the Day Productions, and a lot of her movies (The Boss...The Happytime Murders...Life of the Party) are produced by them—meaning Melissa isn't just making money from acting!
P.P.S. Before you ask, there's no word yet on how much Melissa made playing Ursula in The Little Mermaid, nor on whether she was paid in cash or unfortunate souls.
What Did Melissa McCarthy Make for Gilmore Girls?
Good question, and the answer is slightly unclear. But! We did some sleuthing. Apparently, Lauren Graham and Alexis Bledel made somewhere around $50,000 per episode for the show. But considering they were the leads, it seems safe to assume Melissa's paycheck was significantly less.
And then there's Gilmore Girls: Year in the Life. Lauren and Alexis got $3 million each for the revival, per Variety. Meanwhile, Melissa was only in it for approximately two seconds—but she was a mega-star at the time and presumably commanded a pretty impressive paycheck for the cameo? Presumably?
Let's Chat Melissa McCarthy's Endorsements
And we're not just talking on Instagram. Here's Melissa's recent Super Bowl commercial for Booking.com.
And ANOTHER Super Bowl ad she did a few years back for Kia:
Unclear how much she made for these, but Super Bowl commercials do not come cheap!
On top of being the face of mega-brands, Melissa is an investor—most recently in the whiskey company Big Nose Kate:
And Finally, She Has a Tonnnn of Real Estate
We're talking multiple homes in and around Los Angeles worth millions each, plus a bungalow that she rents out, and a Manhattan penthouse worth ~$7 million. Must be nice! 🙃
So What Is Melissa McCarthy's Net Worth in Total?
Melissa McCarthy has a total reported net worth of $90 million. This is obviously HUGE, but Melissa definitely worked her way up! As she told Glamour, “When you spend 20 years working your butt off, you know yourself better. If you’re handed everything you want at 19 or 20, you may actually believe all of the people who are like, ‘You’re amazing.’ I think I would have been probably cuckoo [if I’d been successful] at 18. I think the best thing I could have done was struggle until I was 30. I always assume every job is my last. Twenty years of desperately trying to get a single job gets deep in your DNA.”
She added, “I have a very, very high level of gratitude. There is not a single day that goes by that I don’t think, I can’t believe I’m doing this. And there is no world where I confuse the fact that I’ve gotten lucky with the idea that there’s something special about me. I think entitlement is a really, really scary thing to possess. For me, it’s like, ‘No. I’ve gotten lucky, and I’ve worked hard.’”
On that note, guess I'll go audition for a CW show and hope for the best.
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